Blessings
by Penguins.Are.Lovely
Summary: Life isn't easy, but it definitely brings its own little blessings. AH Edward and Bella throughout everyday life with their family.
1. Chapter 1

I wake up and look at the clock. Why do I always wake up early on weekends, but then I never want to get up for work during the week? I roll over to find the other side of the bed empty. _Edward must be working still, _I think to myself. I lay in bed for a few minutes before getting a shower.

I go downstairs to make breakfast, knowing that I will have a hungry four-year-old when she gets up. As I am putting the French toast in the oven, I look out at the snowy weather. It is the middle of December and the weather here is calm so far. A light snow has been coming nonstop for the past few days and they are predicting a pretty bad storm for Christmas.

The weather makes me go back to when Edward and I told my mother about our engagement, which is not a good memory. Renee hated the fact that we were getting married so young. "You're only nineteen-years-old, Bella. You know how things ended with your dad and me. We got married young, too. If you get married now, you'll just screw up your entire life like I did. Don't make my mistakes." she had said.

I felt insulted that she said this. Did she really thing I was a screw up? "Oh, so you think of me as a screw up?"

"Bella, I didn't say that."

"Yes you did. That's exactly what you said. You said that you screwed up your entire life."

"I didn't mean it like-"

I cut her off. "Mom, I'm not you. I won't make your mistakes. I love Edward and Edward loves me."

"That's what your dad and I had thought, too." She said quietly.

"Just because it was like that with you and dad doesn't mean that it won't work for Edward and me. So if our marriage fails, I guess you can say I told you so. I'm through with this conversation." I had then walked out of the house to go to the car, slipping on the icy driveway. Renee had a dumbfounded look on her face, as if she thought that I would be stubborn enough to fight her, but I decided not to press my point any further. I knew that she would either accept it completely or not at all and I obviously knew what she chose. Edward came to the car a few minutes later and we drove back to my dad's house.

Edward tried to reassure me that Renee would come to her senses sooner or later and be happy for us. I could only hope that he was right. But that was six years ago and she still hadn't accepted it. I had sent her a wedding invitation, but she didn't show. She didn't come to the baby shower that I had about seven months later- Edward and I had gotten pregnant almost immediately. I had gotten no reply from her when I sent her a birth announcement, either. In fact, I haven't heard from her at all- or seen her- since then, over five years ago. I was twenty when Edward and I got married, and we haven't had any problems. Sure, we have our occasional fights, but we always work it out. She probably doesn't even know where we live, given that we live in Seattle and she still lives in Forks, surprisingly. I figured she would've gotten out of there by now.

I am taken out of my thoughts as I hear, "Morning, mommy."

I turn around to see my daughter, Abigail, walk into the kitchen and sit on a bar stool. "Morning, Abby. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. Where is daddy?" she asks looking around the kitchen and around the corner into the living room.

"He's still at work." I say and her face falls.

I pull the French toast out of the oven and put some on a plate to cool off for Abby and myself. "Blueberries or strawberries?" I ask her.

She ponders it for a second. "Blueberries, please."

I pour some milk for both of us and we start eating. She is in the middle of telling me about a dream that she had last night when I hear the front door open. Abby gets excited and runs to the door.

"Hi, daddy." she yells and I can imagine her attacking Edward.

"Hi, Abby. Is mommy in the kitchen?"

"Yeah. She made French toast with blueberries."

"I can tell. You have blueberries all over your face," I hear him laugh. "Come on. Let's go see her." Edward comes into with Abby following closely behind. She sits down and continues eating.

"Hi, Bella." Edward greets me with a kiss. "Hi, baby." he bends down slightly to give a light kiss on my 5-month pregnant belly.

"Hi," I say back. "There's food on the counter." He gets a plate and sits down to eat. "Busy night?" I ask. He looks tired.

"No, but Dr. Collins called in sick so I had to stay over. And everyone was driving slowly on the roads." he yawns.

"Edward, you look tired. You've been working for hours. Why don't you go to bed?"

"I will. Are you guys doing anything special today?"

"We need to go to the store to get cookie stuff for tomorrow. Are you going to be able to go to your parent's tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Dad and I are both on call, I think. I'm going to bed now. Be careful out there. The roads are getting worse." he gave me another kiss and went upstairs to our room.

I get Abby dressed soon after. I want to get to the store and get home soon if the roads are getting worse.

We pull up to the store and get a cart. The store is packed with people doing their shopping for Christmas meals and also wanting to stock up on food in case the weather gets too bad. We're walking down one of the isles to get some sugar and flour. We pass the Betty Crocker pouches of cookie dough that you mix together. Abby points to the one and asks, "Mommy, can we make those kinds of cookies tomorrow?"

I turn around to see what she is pointing to. "No, Abby. That has peanuts in it."

"Oh. I can't eat peanuts. I'll get really sick and have to go to the hospital."

"That's right, Abby." I smile at her. She is such a smart girl for knowing what will happen if she eats peanuts.

I was nursing Abby one day when she was just a few weeks old. For lunch I had had a sub and an apple. I put peanut butter on the apple slices, like I always did. Abby got very sick after I nursed her. At first, I thought she was just catching the cold that was going around the family. I had gotten it first, then Edward. Edward's dad, Carlisle, checked her out later that night. He said that it probably wasn't the cold, but that we should have her checked out by her pediatrician because her throat was kind of red. We took her in later that week and the doctor said that she was allergic to peanuts. Since then, our house has been completely peanut-free, well, nut-free in general. We have to eat sun butter instead- the same thing, but it's made with sun flower seeds instead of peanuts. And we never leave the house without her epi-pen. Her allergy is as severe as it can get. And, of course, she also has asthma.

We get home, put the groceries away and I let Abby play outside for a few minutes. I make her come inside after a while so she can warm up. Edward wakes up not long after that. I make dinner and we eat. Abby takes up most of the dinner-time conversation, of course. I give her a bath while Edward cleans up the kitchen and we put her to bed before going to bed ourselves.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, after we all get ready and have a small lunch, Edward puts Abby down for a nap and we hang out in the living room, wrapping some last minute gifts to put under the tree, before we have to go to his parent's house to make Christmas cookies. It's a family tradition that his entire family gets together to do.

"Edward," I say walking into our bedroom. "Do you want to take both cars since you're on call?"

"Yeah, that's fine. Do you need anything done?"

"The stuff that we're taking needs to be brought out to the car. And Abby still needs to be woken up from her nap and get ready."

"Ok. I'll get stuff ready if you want to get her ready."

I walk into Abby's room. She is peacefully napping in her small bed. I stand at her bed for a minute, watching her. Abby gets her looks from her father's side. She has Carlisle's blond hair that drops in long curls past her shoulders. The green eyes from her father will have the boys chasing after her when she is older. The only thing she gets from me was the Swan nose. For a minute, I wonder what the new baby will look like.

I walk over to the bed. "Abby," I say, gently shaking her arm. "Abby, wake up. Abigail." She stirs for a second and rubs her eyes. "Abby, you need to wake up. It's time to go to nana's and grandpa's house."

She gets up and goes to the bathroom quickly. I put her hair in a ponytail, as requested by her. I help her put her shoes and coat on. I grab her head band and she jerks her head away from me.

"No. I'm not wearing that."

"Abby, it's too cold for you not to wear it. Your ears will get cold. Come on. Put it on."

"No. I don't want to."

I sigh. She has been difficult with some things lately. "Abby, put it on now."

"No."

Edward walks in at that moment hearing the conversation. "Abigail Anne, put the head band on now or you aren't going." he tells her in a stern voice.

She finally brakes. She has been like this for a few weeks. I ask her to do something and she refuses. Edward intervenes and she obeys. She isn't happy about it usually, but she will do it. I mouth a 'thank you' to Edward and he nods.

"Do you want to ride with mommy or daddy?" I ask her.

"I want to ride with daddy." she says and I'm not surprised. She picks him over me to do things. I wonder if this has something to do with the baby coming in a few months and make a mental note to ask Edward's sister-in-law, Rosalie, about it. She and Edward's brother, Emmett, have five-year-old twin girls, Emmalie and Paige, and then a four-month-old son, Broden. Maybe Emmalie and Paige went through something similar to what Abby was doing when she was pregnant with Broden.

We get into our separate cars, Edward and Abby going in his silver Volvo and I going in my Explorer**.** Before backing out of the driveway, Edward texts me about Abby.

_What was up with the head band thing? She's never like this._

_I don't know. This has been going on since Thanksgiving. I'm going to talk to Rose. Maybe the girls did the same sort of stuff when she was pregnant with Broden. If she is like this now, then I can't imagine what she'll be like when the baby gets here. But it has to stop._

_ I know. We'll figure something out._

The drive to Edward's parents' house is short. They only live a few miles from our house. Everyone is already here it looks like. Rosalie's big Expedition js here, parked next to Edward's sister's, Alice's, car.

Abby gets herself out of her car seat and carefully walks up the sidewalk to the front door. Edward's mother, Esme, greets her and lets her in. Edward comes over to my car to help get things out of the backseat. We walk in and are greeted by his mother.

"Hi, Bella and Edward." she greets with a hug and a kiss on the cheek for both of us.

"Hi, mom." we both say.

"I'll just set that stuff on the counter in the kitchen. I think we'll start in just a few minutes. You can put your coats in the bedroom." Esme says as she starts walking towards the kitchen. Edward takes my coat and puts it in the bedroom and we go into the living room where the rest of the adults are.

"Where are the girls?" I ask no one in particular.

"They're in the play room." Rosalie replies. Broden is tucked under her arm, eating from a bottle.

"Hey, Rose, when you get a minute, can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure, we can talk after he's finished. He's almost done."

After a few minutes, Rose hands a sleeping Broden to Emmett. We go into one of the bedrooms to talk.

"What's up?" she asks.

"It's about Abby." I say.

"Oh. Is she ok?" she asks with a quizzical look on her face.

"Yeah, she's fine. She has just been acting weird lately. Since Thanksgiving, I think. Her attitude has changed dramatically and she picks Edward over me a lot. I know she's a daddy's girl, but it's with most things. A few nights ago, she kicked me out of the room so that he could put her to bed. She respects him a lot more, too. Today, she wouldn't do something that I told her to do and she kept arguing with me about it. Edward stepped in and she did it immediately.

"I kind of wonder if it has anything to do with the baby coming in a few months. But she hasn't shown any negativity towards becoming a big sister or having someone else in the house. I just wondered if the girls were the same way when you were pregnant with Broden."

"Yeah, they were a little bit. Not quite like that. Emmalie didn't want anything to do with the baby from the beginning. Remember, she wouldn't come near me in the hospital. It was Emmett that she usually chose. And Paige still has jealousy issues. She did even before he was born. She was worried about the normal stuff. She thought that Emmett and I wouldn't want to spend as much time with her or love her as much. So, yeah, they were the same, just in different ways." She explains.

"How did you deal?"

"Emmett and I are still working with them. We let the girls hold him or help give him a bottle. Letting the girls play and interact with him. Hopefully they'll get used to him soon. But once he starts walking and wanting to get into their stuff, I'm sure it'll still be a struggle."

"So we should let Abby do things with the baby. You think that will help her get used to having a new baby around?"

"It seems to help my girls a little. I'm sure it's different with every kid, though. Have you really talked to her about having the baby?"

"She knows what it means, I think. She thinks that she'll be just like Emmalie and Paige."

She makes a small laugh. "That's a start, I guess. You can start now, too. Let her touch your belly or help get the nursery together."

"I never thought about that." I say. "Thanks for the advice, Rose."

"No problem, Bella." She smiles and we walk out. The guys are in the living room still, probably watching ESPN or talking about guy stuff. The kids are in the kitchen with Esme. Alice is in there helping them. Rose and I walk into the kitchen to see our three girls making cookies. Alice is helping Paige stir some dough in a big bowl. Abby, Emmalie and Esme are putting ingredients into another.

"Is there anything we can do?" Rosalie asks.

Esme looks up for a second. "The batch in the oven should be coming out soon. Those will need to be put on a cooling rack when they do and we haven't made icing yet. You two could do that."

Rose and I start doing that. Some chatter between the adults goes on in between telling the younger ones what to do. I pull out the last batch, putting the cookies onto the cooling rack. The other girls had start icing cookies.

"Look, mommy. I made a blue star for daddy because blue is his favorite color." Abigail says.

"Good job, Abby. I bet daddy will like it. Did you make one for me?"

"No," I frown. "Not yet. What color do you want?" I smiled a little at the question.

"Green." I tell her.

She starts icing another star cookie for me. Soon, all of the cookies are iced and the girls go back into the playroom for a while. We'll get pizza for dinner later, and then they can eat a cookie. Rose, Alice and I help Esme clean up the kitchen. We go into the living room and sit down next to our spouses.

"How'd it go with Rose?" Edward whispers in my ear.

"Fine. She suggested we try a few things with her."

Chatter between everyone goes on. We talk about a little bit of everything.

"How's the pregnancy, Bella?" Edward's father, Carlisle, asks.

"This one is easier than the first." I admit.

"That's good." He says.

"So was my second one." Rosalie pipes up.

"You had twins for your first pregnancy, Rose. Of course the second was easier." I say.

"True. When are you going to have kids, Alice?"

"We're trying." She says softly. Alice and Jasper have only been married for about two years. They recently decided on trying for kids.

"Bella, do you have your exams written up yet?" Jasper asks from his seat beside Alice. Jasper teaches American History and Psychology/Sociology at the local high school, where I also teach English for seniors and Modern Literature. Semester exams are coming up this week, the last week before the holiday break.

"I'm almost done. But I have until Friday. I still just have to add the vocab, Shakespeare and novel information. Not much left to put on there. Do you have yours done?"

"I've had exams for both classes done since last week." He brags.

Abby comes into the living room alone. I can hear that Emmalie and Paige are still in the play room. She crawls into Edward's lap and lays her head on his shoulder. She falls asleep after only a couple of minutes. I look at the clock. It's almost nine o' clock already.

Edward and I decide to go home. Abby needs to be put to bed and I have to work in the morning. Edward puts Abby in her car seat and drives home. Not bothering to wake her up to change into pajamas, he puts her straight into to bed.

Both of us get ready for bed. Edward asks more about what Rosalie had said. He thinks that it was worth a try and that we should start right away. I'll probably let her help me over break getting some things done in the nursery.


	3. Chapter 3

Monday morning rolls in with an obnoxious beeping and I realize that it is my alarm. Edward shut it off and rolls over to me, placing a hand on my protruding belly and kissing the back of my neck lightly. "Bella. Time to get up."

I stir a bit and groan. "I don't want to get up."

He chuckles. "Come on. Only one more week and then you'll be off for Christmas."

I get up and shower. Edward gets up to get Abby some breakfast and get her and him ready for the day. I jump in the shower and it seems to wake me up some. I blow dry my hair and grab some clothes to wear. I apply a little bit of make-up to my face and put my shoes on.

Abby is eating cereal when I walk into the kitchen. Edward's also eating breakfast. I pack my lunch and grab a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast. Some small talk is made at the table between us. I try to get Abby to talk some more to me.

"Hey, Abby. Do you want to help me get some things in the nursery done while I am home for a few days?"

She doesn't look up when she answered. "Sure, I guess." she grumble. I'm not sure if her grumbling is because of the subject matter or the fact that it's 6:30 in the morning.

I glance at Edward. He nods his head, encouraging me to go on. "Abby, is something wrong? Did I do something to upset you?" she only shrugs her shoulders. I don't know what to say next.

Edward steps in. "Abby," she looks him directly in the eye. "Is something wrong?"

"No. I'm happy, daddy." and she smiles.

"Good." I look at the clock and see that I need to leave. Edward notices, too. "Say good-bye to momma and go upstairs to get ready."

She comes over and hugs me lightly. I kiss the top of her head and say "I love you." She says it back while walking away from me. I still have the impression that something is wrong.

Edward walks to the front door with me. He helps me put my coat on and hands me my car keys. "Something is definitely up with her." He says.

"I know. And I have yet to figure out what. At least if I knew, I could try to fix it."

"Yeah. She will come around. We can try to talk to her more at dinner tonight."

"Yeah. I hope she does. I'm getting tired of her being so distant from me and I want to know what's wrong so that I can help her. I think it has something to do with the baby. I don't want her to be like this when the baby comes and I just have a feeling that her mood and attitude she has now is only going to get worse."

"Baby, we'll figure it out. Don't worry about it. Have her help with the baby's room. We can take her to your doctor's appointment next week. We get to find out what we're having. I'm sure that she'll be excited about that."

"Alright." I sigh. "I got to go."

He gives me a kiss good-bye. "I love you. Be careful."

"Love you too."

The drive to school is long and slow. The roads aren't great, but they aren't bad enough to delay or cancel school. I am glad that I left early. I pull into the parking lot as Jasper is getting out of his car. We greet each other and he holds the door open for me as we walk into the building. We go our separate ways to our classrooms.

I sit at my desk and wait for the computer to turn on. I log in and continue to work on getting the exam written. My students are finishing watching _Macbeth _today since we just read it. This gives me almost all of today to finish the exam and I am hoping that I will have it done by the end of the school day so that I don't have to stay after school or work on it during my conference period tomorrow. I will be discussing the novel they are reading with the class in Modern Lit. All in all, it is going to be an easy week.

The first three English classes come and go. The day is passing by slowly. I hate days like this. Fourth period comes and I figure that it might go a little faster since it is Modern Lit. and I am going to be leading class and not just typing up my exam.

"Alright, class. You were supposed to read chapters 14 and 15 this weekend. Put your books away. You need a pen or pencil." I grab the pop quizzes from my podium at the front of the room and start handing them out.

"Mrs. Cullen," one student, Lauren, complains. "It's exam week. We shouldn't be having a pop quiz this week." The class all agrees with her.

"I don't want to hear it. You should expect a quiz at any time in this class and if you read, you should be fine. This is my classroom and I don't need help running it. Turn these in at my desk when you're finished." My patience is starting to wear today. The day is going so slow, Abby hardly wants anything to do with me, the English exam is in four days and I still haven't finished writing it, students are complaining about this quiz and 8th period is coming up. Let's just say, 8th period is the most entertaining class of the day. Sometimes in a good way, but usually not. The boys in that class are sometimes so…I can't even think of the word. Flirtatious, obnoxious sometimes.

The kids stop complaining and take their quiz. I sit down and continue on the exam until they are done. We start up on the class discussion and I tell them that they have five chapters to read over break. From what was said earlier, they know not to start whining about the amount they have to read and I am grateful for that.

I finish the exam during lunch and I am ready to go home once the day is done.

As my last class of the day is walking out of the room, I quickly remind them to buy notecards for the senior research paper that they are going to be starting after break. I don't stay after school for very long. Only enough time to finish printing off the exams and pack up my stuff.

Abby comes running to where I am as soon as I walk in the door. "Mommy, Daddy took me to Miss Courtney's house today." Courtney is our babysitter.

"Really? You weren't supposed to go there today. Where is he?"

"In his office. He's talking on the phone to someone important and he said that I can't bother him unless it's really important." She says it with a very serious face.

"Ok. Did you have fun today?"

"Yeah. But I fell off of my chair at lunch and got a booboo. So Miss Courtney gave me a Band-Aid. It has Dora on it, see?" she lifts her pant leg up to reveal her Band-Aid.

"I see that, baby. Were you ok?"

"After I got the Band-Aid I was. Miss Courtney made it feel all better."

"Good. I'm glad you're all better." I hear Edward say good-bye to whoever he's talking to on the phone. He breathes out a heavy sigh; a sigh I know means he is working on something. "Go play, Abby. I need to talk to Daddy."

Abby skips off to the living room and continues watching her cartoons. I walk into the office and I see Edward sitting with both elbows on top of a book and fingers in his hair. He is concentrating hard on writing something and doesn't seem to notice me walk in until I lightly knock on the wall by the door. He looks up. "Hi." I says. "I heard she went to Courtney's today?"

"Yeah. I had to go into work for a couple hours to talk to a patient."

"Oh. I thought you weren't on call?"

"I wasn't, but one person came in yesterday having to be put on suicide watch and another came in today. They needed the extra help. How was your day?"

"It was ok. I got my exam done. I'm just ready for a few weeks off."

"I wish I got a few weeks off." he grumbles.

"I know. At least you get Christmas off, though."

"Yeah."

"What are you writing?" I ask curiously.

"Just an evaluation form."

"Alright. Then I'll let you get back to work. Is there anything in particular you want for dinner?"

"No. You can just make whatever." he says. He seems a little distracted having his eyes focused on the paper in front of him.

I turn to walk out the door.

"Hey," Edward calls.

"Yeah?" I turn back around to face him.

"Are you ok? You look like something's wrong."

"I fine. My back hurts a little, but that's it."

Edward puts his pen down and shuts his computer. He stands up, walking over to me and wrapping his arms around my waist. He gives me a kiss and says, "Bella, how 'bout you go sit down and rest and I will make dinner tonight."

"No. I can do it."

"Bella, you just told me that your back hurts."

"It's manageable."

He raises his eyebrow. "I will make dinner." he tells me firmly.

"Can I clean up?"

"No. I'm sure you've been on your feet all day dealing with high-school kids."

"Not really. I worked on the exam most of the day while the kids finished watching a movie. At least let me do something productive."

He thinks about it for a second. "There's a whole load of laundry that needs to be folded."

"Fine."


	4. Chapter 4

Edward carries a basket full of clothes downstairs to the living room for me to fold. He disappears into the kitchen to get started on dinner. Abby's watching TV and coloring in her princess book.

Abby walks up to me and asks, "Mommy, can I watch _Imagination Movers_?"

"Yeah, that's fine, honey." I reach for the remote and turn the Kids OnDemand channel on, selecting her show. "Which episode do you want?"

"'Nina Gets Giggles,'" She tells me.

_Of course. _I think. It is the same one she's been watching all week. "Abby, why don't you pick a different one? You've already seen this one a lot of times."

"No, I like this one. I want to watch it."

"Fine." I say, turn it on, and continued folding.

I get done folding and grab the piles of clothes to take upstairs and put away. My phone is ringing when I come back downstairs. Seeing that it is my dad, I answer it.

"Hi, dad."

"Hey, are you still coming in on Christmas Eve?"

"Yeah. We'll be on our way after church. It'll be late, though. Service doesn't start until eight. It'll probably be at least 11 before we get in. Abby will probably go straight to bed when we get there."

"That's ok. I'll be here. Jake and Billy are going to join us, too."

"Good. I miss them." I grew up with Jake. I haven't seen him in months. "Rachel and Rebecca aren't coming in?"

"No. You know Becca; she doesn't want to come back. And Rachel is spending her break with her."

"Oh. Of course. Hey, when are we going to give her the p-u-p-p-y? Last because that's her big gift, but how are we going to keep it quiet?" Charlie insists that she needs a pet. After much arguing about it, we finally agreed that she could get a small dog, so there is a Jack Russell Terrier waiting for her at my dad's.

"Sh," I hear and I turn around to see Abby looking at me. "Mom, I can't hear the TV. Be quiet." I raise an eyebrow at what she told me and walk into the kitchen.

"I don't know, Bells. We can talk about it when the time comes."

"Alright. We'll see ya then."

"See ya."

I hang up and help Edward get the rest of dinner ready, taking the bread out of the oven and getting Abby some spaghetti and green beans on her plate to cool off.

"Did you hear what Abby told me while I was on the phone?" I ask Edward.

"No. What did she say?"

"She told me to be quiet because she couldn't hear the TV."

"Really? You know, with how she's been lately, I don't think she needs to watch TV."

"I agree. She needs to be talked to. I mean, I know she's only four, but she knows better than to behave like this."

"We need to talk to her tonight before it gets worse."

"Edward, you need to talk to her. You know how she is. She's not going to say anything to me. She's going to avoid the subject and say that everything's fine. But she will talk to you, Edward."

"I guess you're right. We can both talk to her at dinner."

Once we're all seated at the table, we start talking about the little things: how our day was, what Abby wanted for Christmas, things like that. Just the normal dinner-time conversations went on. After a few minutes of silence, Edward looks at me to start the next conversation.

"Abby, why did you tell mommy to be quiet when I was on the phone?"

"I couldn't hear the TV. You were talking too loudly." She says matter-of-factly.

"Abby, that wasn't nice. You know that."

"Well I was trying to watch _Imagination Movers._" She says with an attitude.

"Abigail, you need to stop the attitude you're giving me. It's not nice and you know better than to act like this."

"Abby," Edward breaks in. "You're not watching TV for the rest of the week. You aren't staying up late this weekend either."

"What?" she whines.

"You have had a bad attitude for a while now. It needs to stop and you aren't going to get what you want when you have an attitude. And the whining isn't helping you any."

"Mommy," she looks to me as if I will break the consequence from her.

"No, Abby." I shake my head. "You need to learn that you don't get what you want when you're not nice."

She starts to pout and nobody even mutters a word for the rest of dinner. Edward cleans up as I help Abby get a bath and put on her pajamas. She goes into her room to play with some toys. Edward and I are in the living room- him working and me grading some papers and putting them into the grade book online.

"It's eight o' clock," I say, glancing at the clock. "She needs to get her teeth brushed and into bed. Are you going to talk to her tonight?"

"Yeah, I will." He gets up and goes upstairs.

I hear him helping her brush her teeth and getting into bed. Very quietly, I creep upstairs and stand outside of her closed bedroom door. It takes him a minute to ask her what is wrong. I'm not sure if I want to hear it, but I figure it's best that I know what her problem is.

"Abby, what's up? Why have you been acting like this?" Edward starts.

There is a moment of silence and I wonder if she will answer verbally. Finally she says, "Mommy's going to have a baby."

"Yeah. I know. Aren't you excited for mommy to have a baby? You'll get to be a big sister." He encourages.

"No. I don't want to be a big sister because you and mommy won't love me anymore. You and mommy will only love the baby. And you won't play with me anymore."

"Ab, who told you that?"

"Conner at Miss Courtney's house. He told me that you and mommy won't love me anymore because you will have a new baby to love and play with." I hear her sniffle.

"Baby, that won't happen. Ever, ever. Mommy and daddy will always love you, no matter what."

"That's not what Conner said."

"Don't listen to Conner, ok. You listen to me and mommy. We love you, no matter what. When the baby comes, we'll love you both the same. We'll still play with you and tuck you into bed night and do all of those things."

"Conner said that his mommy and daddy are always with Alyssa because she doesn't stop crying and they always have to stop playing with him to be with her when she cries."

"Abby, babies can't take care of themselves like you can. You know how to get something out of the fridge if you're hungry, but babies can't do that. Remember, Aunt Rose and Uncle Emmett have to feed Broden from a bottle because he can't do it himself. And you know how to use the potty, but babies have to wear a diaper and mommies and daddies have to change it for them. Babies take a lot of responsibility."

"You'll still play with me?" her voice lightens a little.

"Yes, honey, me and mommy will still play with you." He says. "Now, are you excited to be a big sister?"

"A little." Abby says it so quietly that I almost don't hear her.

"Abby, there's something else we need to talk about. You can't keep being mean to mommy. You know better than to be mean to anyone, especially her. You can't do that. You'll make mommy sad if you're mean to her. Do you know how much mommy does for you? She cooks you food and makes sure that you have clean clothes and a bunch of other stuff for you."

She doesn't say anything right away and I feel a tear come down my face.

"Abby, mommy and daddy will always love you, no matter what. And so will nana and grandpa and grandpa Charlie and all your aunts and uncles and your cousins. The baby will just need to have more attention sometimes."

"You promise?" she sniffles again.

"I promise. Hey, mommy and daddy are going to see the baby doctor next week. Do you want to go with us? We get to find out if the baby is going to be a boy or a girl."

"Yeah. Can it be a girl?" she asks with some more enthusiasm.

I hear Edward chuckle a little. "We'll see, baby. We don't get to choose what the baby is."

"Well, if it's a girl, I want her to be named Belle. She's my favorite princess." I smile a little at that.

"I think that Belle is a little too close to mommy's name. Go to bed. Goodnight, Abby. I love you."

"I love you too, daddy."

Edward comes out of the room a moment later closing the door. He sees me standing there with some more tears coming down. He wipes them away and pulls me in as far as my growing belly will allow. "How much did you hear?"

"All of it." I say.

"Come on, let's go back downstairs. I have more work to do and I'm sure you want to get things done, too."

A few hours later while getting ready for bed, Edward and I discuss his and Abby's conversation. Edward suggests that I take her out over break. We can go shopping for the baby and she could help me pick out clothes and some other things. I hope that things will be ok between Abby and I, and I hope that they will stay that way throughout the rest of my pregnancy and after the baby comes.


	5. Chapter 5

Friday comes at a semi-fast pace. Kids only have two exams today, including English, and I am free to leave at 11:15, for which I am grateful. After sitting in a classroom for almost four hours doing almost nothing, I am ready to leave and start my break.

I pick Abby up from the babysitter's and we head home. We eat grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch. I send her up to take a nap shortly after she's cleaned up from lunch. Once I know that she's asleep, I decide to catch up on some chores around the house. I am in the middle of putting clothes in the dryer when I hear the front door open.

"Bella. Abby." Edward's home.

"Upstairs." I shout back.

He comes upstairs, says a quick hello and goes into the bedroom to change out of his work clothes. He walks back in and starts helping me fold the rest of the towels.

"Is Abby asleep?"

"Yeah. She has been for about an hour."

"Did you have a good day?"

"It was pretty boring. I put some grades in and read a book. Sitting in a classroom for four hours while kids take exams isn't exactly how I'd like to spend the last day before break, but I guess I have to do it. How was your day?"

"Long," he says. "We had to do group therapy today. Sometimes I wonder why I chose to be a psychologist."

"Edward, you do it because you want to help people, and you are. I mean, think of how many people who would probably be dead if you hadn't talked to them about suicide. Or how many people who would be on the verge of it. What you do is good."

A few moments of silence go by; the only sound is the dryer running. We hear some shuffling in the next room, signaling that Abby is probably awake. Our suspicions are confirmed when she walks by, not seeing us, and starting to walk downstairs.

"In here, Abby." Edward says.

She stops and turns. She walks into the laundry room. Edward picks her up and hugs her then sits her on top of the washer. Abby "folds" some of the towels and I know that I will have to redo them later, but I am ok with that. I ask her to put away some of her clothes and she does it without complaining. I can already see some improvement and silently cheer on the inside.

"Mommy, when is the baby going to get here?" she asks suddenly.

"Not for a while. The baby still has to grow in my belly for a little while longer."

"I want a little sister. Boys are gross." She makes a disgusted face.

Edward and I laugh a little. "Hey. I am not gross!" Edward mock hurts.

"Except you, daddy, you aren't gross. And Uncle Emmett and uncle Jasper. And Grandpa Carlisle and Grandpa Charlie. They aren't gross, but Broden is."

"Why is Broden gross?"

"Because he poops everywhere and sometimes he throws up after he eats a bottle and burps really loud. It's gross."

"All babies do that stuff. You did that stuff when you little like Broden." I tell her.

"I did?" The look on her face is priceless. Her jaw is dropped and her mouth hanging open as wide as it can get with her eyes big in genuine shock.

"Yes you did. All babies do. Abby, remember, we don't get to choose whether the baby is a boy or a girl. We'll just have to see when we go to the doctor's in a few days."

"Am I going to get poked?" she shrinks back a little.

"No, honey, you're not going to get poked. We aren't going to see your doctor." Oh, yes, going to see her doctor is always fun. Actually, I think Edward and I dread it just as much as she does, especially when we have to see the allergy specialist. I can't blame her though, she is just like me. She hates the doctor's office and hates getting poked and prodded at even more. "That reminds me, Edward, she has an appointment coming up, too."

"When is that?"

"After New Year's, I think. The card is on the fridge."

We finish folding and putting things away. The house is to my standards so I go into the kitchen to get a drink and see that Abby's appointment is on the 4th. We still have a few hours until dinner, so Edward and Abby bundle up to go outside. I stay inside; as much as I love the holiday season and I want to play outside with them, I know that I was starting to get a cold and I don't want to make it any worse.

"I think you're going to have to re-shovel the driveway." I say to Edward. He had done it a few days ago, but the snow just keeps falling and the driveway is completely covered once again.

"I will. I'll probably wait until tomorrow, unless you were planning on going anywhere tonight."

"No, you can wait. I wasn't planning on going out in this anymore until Christmas. Not if I don't have to, at least. Do you work tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I have to leave at 1:30. Well, I guess I will shovel tonight."

He and Abby are outside a few minutes later. Edward is shoveling away and Abby's in the yard, making snow angles and then deciding to help Edward some by pulling her small shovel out of the garage. After a while, they come in to warm up. Abby has some hot chocolate while Edward and I drink some coffee.

We send Abby up to bed shortly after dinner. She goes to bed at 8:30. Normally she would be able to stay up late, but she isn't allowed to for the week as part of her punishment for her behavior. Edward and I also want to get some last minute wrapping done.

Well, we need to _start_ wrapping presents. Edward and I have been busy and haven't gotten the chance to wrap anything. Edward has been busy with work and so have I. Plus, Christmas is at our house this year which meant that grocery shopping needs to be done and I need to plan what I was making. The house also needs to be cleaned, which Abby would be getting her room clean tomorrow while I clean what I can. Edward would have to do what I am not able to.

"Edward," I say. The Christmas music that's being played quietly is the only sound being made while we wrapped. "I know that we've told Abby that we don't get to choose the sex of the baby, but I don't think she really gets it. Let's just say it is a boy, I don't know how she's going to react"

"I've thought about that myself. I don't know either. I guess we will just have to wait and see. I mean, I'm sure that she'll probably be disappointed, of course. Other than that, I don't know. And I also wonder if it would affect the way she behaves around the baby or you even, with how she has been."

"Well, I figure she will be upset if it is a boy, I'm just worried about the extent of it."

"We'll just have to see. If it's a girl, then we have nothing to worry about."

"What do you want it to be?"

He thinks for a minute. "Boy." He states simply. "You?"

"Boy. I love having Abby, but I want a little Edward running around, too."

"Poor kid would probably still be getting dressed up by Alice all the time."

"Well, then let's hope that they have a girl if they ever get pregnant." We both laugh.

"That was my last present. Are you all done?"

"Yeah. Let me just finish taping this one and I'll be done."

We finish and move everything back into the guest bedroom where Abby won't get them. They will be put under the tree later, closer to Christmas. We head off to bed then.

I wake up when the bed shifts. I opened one eye to see Edward getting out of bed and going into the bathroom. I look at the clock. It's 7:30 and I know that Abby will be awake soon. When Edward comes out, he sees that I am awake. He climbs back into bed and says, "Good morning, love."

"Morning." I say, and then I have a sudden urge to go to the bathroom. I get up and go, then decide on showering while I'm in there. I hear Edward talking in the bedroom and know that Abby must be awake.

When I go back into the room, they are both gone. They have gone downstairs; Abby is coloring on the bar and Edward is getting things out to make pancakes. I start on the eggs. Abby cleans up her stuff from the table and asks if she can help. We are sitting at the table. I stare at the eggs with hate and disgust.

"What's wrong, Bella?"

"These eggs look repulsive."

"Then don't eat them."

_I wish we had that dog now. Then it could eat these eggs. _I think.


	6. Chapter 6

Christmas Eve is here. Edward and I have been busy in the kitchen all morning, cooking for lunch that is in two hours. The ham is in the oven, the table set, gifts under the tree, and now we are just getting ready. Edward gets Abby ready and continues cooking while I am in the shower. When I am ready, Edward steps in and I finish getting food set out.

Everyone shows up right on time. I take Broden from Rosalie so that she can help Emmett carry presents in. Paige and Emmalie go to find Abby as soon as they are in the house. Everyone continues to bring boxes and bags and food in. Esme and Alice help get food set up in the kitchen. Edward and Jasper bring Abby's princess table and chairs up from the basement so that the kids can eat there. Once everything is ready, we eat. Edward, Emmett and Rose are busy getting food for the kids and then get their own food. Everyone then starts eating in the dining room.

"Are you guys going to your dad's tonight, Bella?" Esme asks from across the table.

"Yes, we're going straight there after church."

"Are things better with Abby?" Rosalie asks. Everyone kind of looks confused except for Edward, Rose, and I.

"They seem to be. She's been good lately."

"What's wrong with Abby?" Esme asks.

"She's been very bitter towards me since around Thanksgiving. Her attitude took a dramatic turn."

"Do you know why?" Carlisle asks.

"The baby. She was fine with Edward. She picked him over me for everything and she didn't respect me at all."

"She's ok with everything now?"

"It seems. Edward talked to her; that seemed to help things. Her attitude has been better and I get more respect."

"That's good."

"Yes, it is. Though we don't know how she'll react if the baby is a boy."

"She wants it to be a girl?" Alice asks.

"Yeah. And no matter how many times we tell that we don't get to choose, she still thinks that we will have a girl no matter what." Edward comes in.

"When do you find out?" Emmett asks.

"Tuesday."

"Are we putting money in?"

"Of course we are." Esme says. Yes, we bet on what the baby will be. "We'll do it after lunch."

After lunch and things get cleaned up a little, the adults go in the kitchen, each one pulling out five dollars to put into the bet. I grab a pen and some paper to write the stuff down.

"Well, Edward and I both say boy. Carlisle, what do you say?"

"Girl."

Esme replies with, "Boy."

"Ok. Emmett, Rosalie?"

"Boy. We need more boys in this family. My son is not going to be the only boy." Emmett tells us. Why was I not surprised that he would say boy?

"As much as I want to agree with Emmett about that, I still have to say girl. I mean, we had two girls then a boy. Carlisle and Esme had boy, boy, girl. There's a pattern." Rosalie says.

"Rose, you had twin girls before Broden. That's still only two pregnancies. I don't think that really counts." Edward tells her.

Rosalie gives him a fake scowl. "Still. It fits that pattern."

"I think that you'll have a boy," says Alice. "I need some inspiration for the new spring line that will come out." Alice is a local fashion designer that is trying, successfully to get her name out there.

"And my son isn't?"

"He'll be too old by then for a newborn line."

"I say it'll be a girl," Jasper comes in.

I write all of this down on the paper. "So that's it. I have five that say boy and three that say girl." Everyone nods. "Ok then I guess we can open presents now."

We all head into the family room where everyone claims seats and spots on the floor. The girls help pass out gifts and we start after they were done. The kids go first; Rosalie opens Broden's things. Abby gets a ton of new stuff. Of course she gets clothes, even a few new things from Alice that aren't even out yet. She also gets some toys and a new necklace from Esme and Carlisle. The baby receives a few things too. The girls go upstairs with Abby's toys to play after they are done.

The rest of us open our gifts next. Carlisle and Esme give each couple a bottle of wine, except us obviously because I won't be drinking it anytime soon. I see Alice make an odd face about it and I briefly wonder what it was about, but I brush it off. Edward and I, along with Alice and Jasper and Emmett and Rosalie, pitched in to get Carlisle and Esme new patio furniture for the backyard.

All of the gifts are done, but then Alice says, "Hold on," she pulls a small bag from her purse and gives it to Jasper.

"I thought we said we'd wait until tonight to exchange gifts." Jasper seems very confused. I think everyone else is too.

"I know, but I couldn't wait." Alice says with a small smile.

Jasper slowly takes the tissue paper out of the bag. He looks down at what is in the bag looking even more confused. He pulls the object out and reveals a pair of baby socks. It takes him a second before he turns around to Alice and says, "Are you pregnant?"

Alice can only nod her head excitedly. "I took a test a few days ago."

"Ali, that's great." Jasper stands up and embraces her tightly before laying a hand on her still flat stomach.

"So I guess we'll have three little ones running around," Carlisle comments.

"Yes we will." Esme says with a smile on her face.

Things settle down and the guys go into the living room to talk, watch whatever is on TV and I'm pretty sure they doze off at some point. I check on the girls upstairs and see that they are playing quietly in Abby's bedroom. Rosalie follows me upstairs so that she can put Broden in mine and Edward's bedroom to sleep. Alice and Esme are talking when we go back into the family room.

"Have you seen a doctor yet, Alice?"

"No, I just took the test on Friday while Jasper was at work. I would've told him sooner, but I figured now was the perfect time."

"There are going to be so many kids running around here." I say.

"When are you due, Bella?" Rosalie asks.

"April 15."

"Broden turns one in August. Bella's due in April and you'll probably have yours later in the year, Ali. Three little ones plus the girls."

"This family is just popping with babies." Esme comments with laughter.

"Have you thought of names, Bella?" Alice asks.

"Well, we're set on the girl name. We're still arguing on the boy name, though."

"You aren't going to tell us what the names are, are you?"

"We never do." I say.

"Are you and Emmett planning on having anymore?"

Rosalie responds with, "I don't know. We've talked about it. We might."

Through the baby monitor we hear a few small whimpers and then Broden crying. Rosalie gets up and says, "He's probably hungry," then hurries upstairs to get him. When she comes back down, she hands him to Esme and goes into the kitchen to make his bottle. Esme feeds him and the conversation picks right back up.

It is 6:30 when I look at the clock. The girls and I walk into the living room to wake the boys up and tell them to get ready. Abby, Paige and Emmalie are also asleep on the floor when we go upstairs.

We wake them up, send them off to the bathroom and help them get dressed for church. We also get dressed out of our jeans and into something nice. We all get a few leftovers for dinner and pack everything away for people to take home. Edward helps Abby pack a small bag for my dad's house while I pack one for Edward and me.

Everyone shuffles into cars and heads off to the church. Knowing that the girls will probably get bored, I made sure to pack a few coloring books and crayons for them and fruit snacks. The service is nice as it always is for Christmas Eve.

After church, we are hugged and shake hands with Pastor Matt and told how long it'd been since he'd seen us. The kids are told how big they are getting by everyone and how they can't believe that we are expecting again. Alice and Jasper tell them that they are expecting too and they are congratulated as well.

I change Abby into her pajamas in the car before we start the drive to Forks knowing that she will most likely fall asleep on the way there.

The living room light is on when we pull up to the house. I see a figure move and Charlie opens the front door. Edward takes Abby out of the car and says a quick hello to Charlie.

"Everything is ready for her upstairs." Charlie says and Edward takes her up to my old room, where she will sleep on my bed. Edward and I are taking over my dad's bed and he will be taking the couch.

I come into the house and Charlie takes the bags I am carrying to set them by the stairs. "Are you sure you don't mind the couch?" I ask. "I mean, we could put Abby on the couch and you can have my bed."

"Bella, I don't mind at all. She can have the bed."

"Where's the dog at?"

"Billy has him. They'll bring him tomorrow and take him upstairs when she isn't watching."

We don't talk for long and go up to bed. Edward and I are both tired from today. We wake up early the next morning to get ready for the day. Charlie can't cook to save his life and I don't want to cook a second day, so we just have subs for lunch. Everything is set out. Edward brings our gifts in from the car and put them under the tree.

The doorbell rings and I go to answer the door. Billy Black is there in his wheelchair. "Bella, it's so good to see you again. Merry Christmas." he says happily.

"Hi, Billy. Merry Christmas. It's good to see you too. Where's Jake?"

"He's getting things out of the car. When should we bring in the one gift?" he whispers in case Abby is listening in the other room.

I look in the living room to see Abby entranced by the gifts under the tree. "You can bring it in now. I'll distract her. You can put it in Charlie's room for now."

Billy makes a hand motion to Jake to bring the dog in. "Is there anything else that needs to be brought in?"

"There are a few packages that can come in. Sue Clearwater made a cake for us to bring. I hope you like chocolate."

"It's my favorite. Did you make sure that it's safe for Abby? No nuts or anything."

"It's safe. I asked and Sue said that she went through everything twice."

I go to distract Abby by asking her to help me in the kitchen. Edward and Charlie help Jake bring things in. Jake greets me with a hug and a smile.

"Hey, Bells. How've you been?"

"Good. How have you been? It's been a while."

"I'm good."

After talking and catching up for a while we eat. Abby is begging to open presents so we eat quickly.

She opens her first present- a bag of dog treats- and gives everyone a weird look. "Mommy, these are for dogs."

"I know," I say. "Keep going."

After a few boxes and bags of clothes and toys, she gets a blue dog leash. Again, she makes a comment about it being for dogs. I can tell that she is totally oblivious to the hints. I know that she is done opening her presents so I give Edward the signal to get the dog from upstairs.

"You have one more present, Abby. Daddy's going to get it."

Edward comes downstairs with a box. Abby looks curiously at the box when she hears shuffling from inside of it. Slowly she opens the box. The dog jumps right out and begins to run around the living room. Abby looks ecstatic.

"Do we get to keep him, mommy?"

"Yup. He's yours. You need to give him a name."

"Is it a girl?"

"No, the man at the pet store said that it's a boy." Edward says.

After thinking for a minute- her face is pretty cute- she says, "Lucky. I want to name him lucky because Lucky Charms is my favorite cereal."

"Lucky. That's a good name."


	7. Chapter 7

We are getting ready to leave Charlie's house the next afternoon after lunch. Edward has to go back to work tomorrow morning and we want to get back home while the roads aren't too terrible. The snow finally stops falling after a few days of almost nonstop snow so the roads have had the chance to clear off a little.

"Abby, what do you tell grandpa for your gifts?"

"Thank you, gramps!" she shouts and gives him a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"You're welcome, sweetie." He returns with a kiss on the cheek as well and buckles her into her car seat. Lucky is in a small cage in the seat next to her.

"Bye, dad. Thanks for everything." I say and give him a good-bye hug.

"No problem, Bells. And you better call me when you find out what you're having on Tuesday. That's an order." He says with no force at all.

I laugh. "You'll be the first to know."

We both smile, and then he becomes serious. "Renee doesn't know anything about you being pregnant?"

"No, not at all. I'd like to keep it that way, too. She doesn't need to know about this one if she didn't even respond to me when we had Abby."

"Ok. I just wanted to make sure. I saw her the other day at the store. She didn't say anything, of course. I was on the phone anyway, but I doubt she would have said anything either way."

"Of course not. Why would she?"

"She wouldn't. You always have been more mature than her in a way, She looked different, though. I don't know. Sad, maybe. Something just seemed off, I think."

We hop in the car and start for home. Abby plays with Lucky in the backyard for a while as Edward and I are taking things into the house and putting them away. I start the washer and go out tell Abby to come in. Surprisingly she doesn't argue with me. Of course, she is cold so I don't expect her to argue.

She is sitting at the bar in the kitchen. I hand her a cup with some cooled down hot chocolate. She asks, "Mommy, when are we going to do the baby's room?"

The question kind of throws me off guard because I'm not expecting her to ask. "We will start on it soon. Mommy and daddy want to find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl first."

"Oh." She pauses for a moment then asks, "Where do babies come from?"

Now I am really thrown off guard. I stammer for a minute trying to think of something age-appropriate to say. "Well, honey. When two people love each other- married people like mommy and daddy- um, they... Go ask daddy," I finally say.

"Ok." She hops off the bar stool. "Daddy." She yells, walking into the living room.

Edward comes into the kitchen a few minutes later. "What the hell, Bella?"

"You are the doctor."

"I'm a psychologist. You're the teacher."

"I couldn't think of anything. What did you say?"

"That people go to the kitchen to make a sandwich. Then the tomato pops out and that's the baby. It's what Emmett told me when I was younger." He shrugs.

"Emmett _would_ say something stupid like that. Now she's probably going to ask us why the baby doesn't look like a tomato when he or she is born."

"It works for now. She won't remember anyway."

I cock an eyebrow. "True. But that is still a ridiculous answer."

"Ok, Emmett was six and I was four," he defends himself.

"So you were Abby's age when he told you and you still remember that. About 20 something years later."

"Not my fault I'm good at remembering things. I wasn't going into details with her."

I walk into the family room and grab my phone off of the coffee table. I text Rosalie.

_Your husband is an idiot._

_ Why? _She texts back.

_Ask him what he told Edward when he asked where babies come from._

She doesn't text back until a few minutes later. _A tomato? Wow._

_ I know._

I sit down on the couch and start to read through a magazine. Edward walks out to check on Abby and says that she is asleep on the couch. He also sits down.

"What were you talking to your dad about earlier? When we were getting ready to leave."

"He saw Renee at the store the other day. He just asked if she knew anything about the baby. I told him no and that I want it to stay that way. She doesn't even know we're expecting again."

"You sent her an announcement when Abby was born." He accuses me.

"I know. But I never got a response from her. She didn't even come to the wedding. It looks like she doesn't care to do or say anything, so why should I care to try communicating with her."

"Bella, I know you don't want that. I know you want her to be a part of their lives." He pulls a string of hair from my face and places it behind my ear.

"I know. I do want her to, but if she's not going to make the effort, then I'm not going to keep wasting my time trying. I sent her a wedding invitation. I sent an invitation to the shower. I invited her to Abby's baby shower and I sent a birth announcement and I never heard from her on any of those things. At least a card would've been something."

"I guess I can't stop you from stopping then. It's your choice. I'm sorry that things didn't turn out how you hoped they would in the beginning with her."

"It's not your fault." I say. "Charlie said that she looked kinda off when he saw her."

"Maybe she was having a bad day."

I lean against Edward's shoulder. "I love you." I mumble.

He kisses the top of my head. "I love you, too, Bella." He places a hand on my stomach. "I love you, too. And your sister."

"On a completely unrelated topic," Edward begins. "You know that it's cold season which means that we'll have to watch Abby with her asthma more closely."

"I know. That's the one thing I hate about winter is her getting sick and the asthma coming on."

"We'll just have to watch and make sure that she always has her inhaler with her."

"I hope this one doesn't have so many health problems like Abby does. Not that we don't know how to handle it, I just don't want two sick kids."

"I'm sure the baby will be fine."

"One thing we need to ask her doctor about is school next year. If he recommends that she not go, then we need to figure something out."

"I've thought about it. I would hate for you to have to quite to stay home with her. I mean, it wouldn't be a big deal on the days I have off, but the other days she has to go somewhere."

"I want her to go to school. I want her to be able to go just like everyone else, but I don't want her to go somewhere that it isn't safe for her."

"I know. I feel the same way."

Abby wakes up a while later. She tells me about the tomato and I give Edward a dirty look. He just gives me and innocent look and mouths Emmett to me. I just shake my head and roll my eyes as I hand Abby a plate.

We eat dinner and Edward and I let Abby have her TV privileges back because of her good behavior. We warn her that if the behavior starts again that TV will be taken away again. Happily, she goes into the living room to watch TV before bed.

Edward is up at the crack of dawn for work. He kisses me gently and quietly tells me goodbye before he leaves. I continue sleeping for a couple hours before I get up.

I get a shower and dry my hair before I get dressed. When I go downstairs I hear the TV playing some kid show. Curious, I go in to see what is going on. Abby looks up when she hears me.

"How long have you been down here?" I ask.

"Since daddy left." She says.

"Oh. Are you hungry?"

"No, daddy made me cereal."

I walk into the kitchen to get something to eat for myself. I sit on the couch next to Abby with my cereal and eat as she watches some mindless TV show. When it is over I tell her to get dressed and brush her teeth. When she does, she brings her hair brush down for me to help her.

"What are we going to do today, mommy?"

"You need to clean your room before you do anything, Abigail. Go do that now, please. Then we can do something."

She goes back upstairs and I make a mental note to sneak up there in a few minutes to see if she is actually doing it. I load the dishwasher and start it. When I checked on Abby I see that she is cleaning her toys up and putting them away so I go into our bedroom to hang clothes up. She comes in and sits on the bed. "I cleaned my room. Now can we do something?"

"Did daddy let Lucky outside before he left?"

"Yes."

"We need to go to the mall to return a couple of stuff. Aunt Rose got a pair of shoes for you that you already have and gramps got the wrong pant size for you. We'll have to return those and get new ones."

"Can we take lunch to daddy?"

"No, not today. He already took his lunch with him. Maybe another time."


	8. Chapter 8

Edward, Abby and I are getting ready for my doctor's appointment in the late morning. Abby's still thinking we are going to have a girl no matter what, so even though Edward and I want a boy, I think both of us are silently asking for a girl. We talked about it, but we don't know how Abby is going to react if the doctor says that we're having a boy. I buckle Abby into her seat and we head off for the appointment.

We check in and sit in the waiting room for a few minutes. When they call me back, Edward carries Abby in; she thinks that this is her appointment, so Edward whispers in her ear that it's not.

I lay down on the table. Edward and Abby sit in a chair by my head while we wait again. The ultrasound tech comes in and squirts the cold liquid on my stomach. She looks around for a few minutes, showing Abby more than us, where the head, arms, and feet are. Abby thinks it's like the coolest thing in the world judging her facial expressions.

"Do you want to know the sex?" the girl asks.

"Yes."

She points on the screen. "A little girl," she says.

Though Edward and I are a little disappointed, we are happy that we're having a girl. Both of us breathe out a small sigh of relief. "Abby, you're going to have a little sister." Edward says.

She smiles, happy that it's a girl. "When is she coming?" she's so eager to know.

"Not for a while. She'll come in April." I say.

We have the pictures printed off and leave. I call Charlie as promised to tell him that we are having a girl. He is just as happy now as he was when we told him about Abby.

Since it is still early, we decide that we should start shopping for some clothes and things for the nursery. Abby is excited to be able to help. She obviously has made a dramatic turn for the better since Edward and she had their talk.

"What colors were you thinking of, Bella?"

"Well, I mean, we did the whole pink, girly thing with Abby. I'm not necessarily opposed to that, but I'd like it to be different than what hers was. I was actually thinking of neutral colors. Like, I was thinking white or creme colored furniture with maybe light brown or tan without necessarily a theme."

"That's definitely different than hers was."

"You don't like what I thought?"

"No, that's not what I was saying. I like the idea that it's the opposite of Abby's. It's not so bright and doesn't have the theme of butterflies or whatever. I think it's a great idea."

We pull up to the paint store. I show him the two colors that I was thinking of. "I like the creme for the top and the tan for the bottom." Edward likes it and so does Abby. We take a few more samples, just to see what we like best and leave. I don't want to pick out furniture and other things until we have the room painted.

"I'll see if Emmett and Jasper want to help me paint sometime this week."

"You'll be doing Alice's nursery next."

"I hope they have a boy. I'm with Emmett; there are too many girls in the family. Poor Broden is going to grow up around a bunch of girls."

The grocery store is our next destination. After eating lunch, Abby goes down for a nap. I do as well. Between the doctor's office, the paint store and the grocery store, I am exhausted and so is she. I wake up two hours later. Abby is still asleep and Edward is watching something on TV. I curl into him on the couch.

"Did you tell anyone about the baby?"

"No, I wasn't sure if you wanted to wait until tomorrow."

"Oh. New Years is tomorrow, I forgot. Where are we going?"

"Emmett and Rosalie's house. I did talk to Emmett. He asked if Abby would want to stay tomorrow night. I told him that was fine. And he and Jazz are going to help paint next Saturday. You and the girls are going to go out."

"Where?"

"I don't know. Jazz said that he'd put Alice is charge of that."

"What about the kids?"

"They'll stay here with us. Dad has to work and mom is going with you."

"Are you guys going to be able to watch all four kids while you work? I mean the girls should be fine, but I don't know about Broden."

"Babe, we'll be fine. Just because we're guys doesn't mean that you have to lecture us on how to watch our kids." He says in a playful tone. "Besides, you girls need to get out of the house without husbands or kids with you."

"Thank you. So I guess we need to decide on paint and order the crib before Saturday."

"Yeah. As long as you decide on the color, I can pick the paint up. But we need to pick out furniture."

"I think I am pretty set on the first two colors that we picked out."

"Those were the ones that I liked best, too, but are we going to find the color of furniture to match?"

"You're right. No one is going to be open tomorrow, and we both have to go back to work on Tuesday. Do you have to work on Wednesday? We could go shopping after Abby's appointment."

"That sounds good to me, but I don't know how she's going to be."

"We can work around that. She doesn't have to go furniture shopping with us. She probably doesn't want to. She looked like it the most boring thing in the world just to be in the store for a few minutes looking at paint. Who knows how long we could be looking at furniture."

"I'm sure mom could watch her. I can ask."

"Ok. We'll get everything sorted out. It isn't the end of the world if she has to go with us."

"To her it might be."

New Year's comes and it is going to be a new start. Hopefully we can get the clear for Abby to go to school next year at her appointment. We are due in April and Alice will be having her baby this year, too. Edward and I are in charge of planning our first family vacation this summer with everyone over July 4th to Tennessee. It is going to be a year of new things.

We are the first to arrive to Emmett's and Rosalie's house. I help Abby get out of her seat and grab her overnight bag; Edward takes the food in that we brought. Abby goes straight into the basement to play with the girls.

Of course, Emmett has the alcohol out already. Alice and I are assigned designated driver for our husbands; obviously we won't be drinking tonight. Neither will Esme or Rosalie; Esme because she just chooses not to and Rosalie can't because she is nursing. But the guys will definitely be drinking tonight.

"You can just put Abby's bag by the steps." Emmett says.

Once everyone else shows up the party begin. After dinner Emmett suggests that we play Quelf. That game is always interesting in this family. Rose put a movie in and popped some popcorn for the girls while they changed into pajamas and got ready for bed.

"Ok, whenever someone talks to me I play peek-a-boo with you." Alice says and she does until the game ends. Esme ends up winning. There is still a few more hours until midnight.

The girls are all sleeping and Rosalie disappears upstairs to feed and change Broden. The rest of us continue talking and drinking until she comes back downstairs. Alice says that she has a doctor's appointment scheduled in a few days and we are all so excited for them. Most of the conversation is about them having their baby, but Edward and I get asked questions too.

When the ball drops, Edward and I kiss just as the other couples do. We leave not long after. Rosalie and Emmett assure us that Abby will be fine. They know how to use her epi-pen if they need it and assure us that everything will be fine. They will drop her off sometime in the afternoon.

Both of us go straight to bed when we got home. Edward has to leave for work at 10:30 in the morning and I just am not up to staying up this late when I am five months pregnant or anytime for that matter. I used to be able to, but then I got married and had a kid and got a job working with high school kids. With a second one on the way, I am definitely not staying up so late anymore.


	9. Chapter 9

After a few nice weeks gone, it's the first day back at school. We are almost half-way through the year and I have a feeling that it's going to go by quickly. It's always refreshing to go back after break. The board has been wiped clean of any chalk. All of the extra text books under desks have been picked up and are neatly stacked on the shelf in the back corner of my room. And the bulletin board is empty, but I have come in a little early to take care of that. I dig through my desk drawer to find the manila folder labeled "Research Paper." I find the letters that have already been cut out and start stapling them to the board.

Students start coming in around 7:15 and set their things down on the desks. I write a few things on the board for my seniors and patiently wait for class to start. Once the tardy bell rings and announcements are over I start class.

"I want to see thirty note cards in the air so that I can check you off for points." Those who have their note cards hold them up and I check them off. "Chase, where's your note cards?"

"I forgot them. They're at my house."

"Make sure you bring them tomorrow." I say. "Ok, guys. Let's get started on this ten to twelve page research paper." A chorus of grumbling is heard. "It isn't so bad if you pick a topic that you are actually interested in. Last year I had one girl who actually went a few lines over twelve pages. And speaking of topics you need to have you need to start thinking of a topic to write on. Once you have it write it down on a half sheet and give it to me by this Wednesday. Yes, Ally?"

"Can we write about whatever we want?"

"I was just going to get to that. Yes, you may write about what you want, however, no abortion. I have seen too many papers on abortion and that topic is too common. I know that it is a great controversial topic, but it is so common. The only way you will be able to write about it is if you can give me a very specific topic within it and here, I will show you an example from last year." I sit down at my desk and pull up a previous student's paper. "Look, she did her's on the religion's view of abortion and why she is against it. Something like that is fine, but not just abortion in general. You need a topic that you are able to form an argument either for or against. Remember, the more you like your topic, the easier it's going to be to write this paper. So on Wednesday I want your topic, understand?"

"Yeah," everyone says.

"Then after I approve your topic, you need a minimum of 5 sources. And not 5 internet sources. At least 3 of them have to be books, magazine articles, etc." Then the bell rings and the class leaves. The rest of the day passes like this. This is a typical first day back from break. In Modern Lit., the class and I discuss what they read over break and then give them the homework.

I pick Abby up from Courtney's house after school. Courtney tells me that her nose has been running and she's been sniffling all day and complaining of being stuffy. Fantastic. A sick child with asthma. I pray that she doesn't have any serious attacks like last year. That was not fun.

I make her blow her nose when we get home. I hate to do it, but I tell her that she can't go outside for a while because I don't want to risk her getting sicker. I ask Edward to stop by the store on his way home to get her some cold medicine since we don't have any and ask him what he wants for dinner. Abby goes off into the living room to play with Lucky. I change out of my dress clothes and put on jeans and a t-shirt.

When Edward gets home I try to give Abby some medicine. She refuses, putting up a fight. "Abby, it tastes like grape."

"No it doesn't. Grapes taste good, that doesn't. I don't want any."

I inwardly sigh and hope that she isn't going to start this again. "If you don't take it then your cold is going to get worse and you might have an asthma attack. Do you want to go to the hospital?"

She stands there for a second, thinking it over. She opens her mouth so that I can put the spoon in. I figure that would get her to stop arguing and I am right. She takes a drink of water and goes to find Edward in the office.

I make dinner and soon we are eating. I ask Edward how his day went and shrugs saying that nothing out of the normal happened. I say the same. Abby goes to bed shortly after her bath and falling asleep on the couch. Since it's still early, Edward and I decide to get a movie on Pay Per View. We get _We Bought A Zoo, _a movie I have been wanting to see but haven't had the time to.

When it's over we head up to bed. I remember that Abby's appointment is tomorrow afternoon. "Edward, are you going to be able to go to her appointment tomorrow?"

"What time?"

"3:30."

"Yeah, I can go. We need to ask about her going to school next year."

"I know. Now, let's say that he says that she shouldn't go to public school, what do we do?"

He sighs and lays down on the bed next to me. "I don't know. I'd hate for you to have to quit your job, but I don't see any other option. I mean, we don't necessarily need to you work, but I'm sure you don't want to be stuck in the house all day. But I don't see another option. Let's not think about that now, though. We can discuss it if we need to."

"I hope this one doesn't have the problems that she does." I say as I rub where our baby girl is. To think of having two children with allergies and other health problems is just unbearable. If I could, I would take Abby's allergy and asthma away and give it to myself. I know that Edward would do the same. I want to lock Abby in a box and never let her out just to protect her from the dangers of the world, but I know that I can't do that. She needs to be in the real world and not be sheltered. Eventually she will learn to be careful and know what she can and can't eat and touch, which she does somewhat, but she is only four. She doesn't know that, even if it doesn't have nuts in it, it could still kill her. I don't dwell on that thought.

"I know, Bella. I don't want her to have any problems either."

After six periods of talking about papers more, I am ready to get this doctor's appointment done and over with. I pick Abby up and start to head over there. She asks where we are going- apparently she forgot about this. "You have a doctor's appointment."

I look in the mirror and see her shrink back into her seat. "I don't want to go."

"Oh, come on, Abby. We're going to ask the doctor if you can go to kindergarten next year. You'll be ok. He's just going to do a couple of tests and then we can leave."

Edward meets us in the parking lot of the doctor's office. We check in and wait. After taking her height and weight and asking a few questions, we have to wait for the doctor to come in. Abby keeps herself occupied with a Dr. Seuss book, not reading it, but just looking at the pictures. The door opens and Dr. Conley walks in with a smile. "Hi, Abby. How are you?"

"Fine," she says quietly. I give her an encouraging smile.

"Well, I looked at your records. You've grown since you were here last," the doctor says brightly. "Did you have a good Christmas?" he asks.

"Yes. I got a new puppy!" she says it enthusiastically. There's the Abby I know.

"A new puppy? Wow. What's its name?"

"His name is Lucky. He's really cute."

"Boys aren't cute. They're handsome," Edward grumbles under his breath so that I am the only one that can hear him.

Dr. Conley laughs. "Good. Now, let's check a few things out. I'm going to shine a light in your eyes for a second." Abby sits there as he continues to look at her eyes, ears, and throat. She obediently does what the doctor asks her to do when he listens to her heart. "Everything looks good. I do want to send her down to the lab to get a blood test just to monitor her peanut allergy. Depending on those results, I may call her back in for a few more tests. And it does sound like she's catching a cold, I'm sure you already know. Remember to watch the things she does and monitor her breathing. Do you have any questions?"

Edward speaks up. "We're trying to decide what to do with her in the fall. Would it be ok to send her to school, or would you recommend she be home schooled?"

"Well," Dr. Conley begins. "Ultimately, the choice is yours. Whether you decide to send her to school or not is totally up to you. I understand that you want to protect her and keep her away from the dangers of public school, but it is possible for her to go. I would recommend talking to the principal and even the school nurse, just so that you are aware of what the kids are eating there and what's in the food. Dalton elementary I know is a nut free school in what they serve and asks parents not to send anything with nuts in their child's lunch, however, that doesn't mean that the other kids didn't have something for breakfast with nuts in it or bring something to school that was processed with nuts."

"Since she has an allergy, what are the odds of the baby having an allergy?" I ask.

"If Abby's allergy was genetic, then the possibility of the baby having it would increase by 50%. However, Abby's allergy is not genetic, so there are ways to decrease the likelihood of the baby developing one. One way is not to give nut products to the baby too young. That's how a lot of allergies develop. And of course not having the baby consume nuts and watching what the baby eats, but you already do that with Abby. So you should be fine. But I wouldn't worry about it."

That is a relief. Edward and I take her down to the lab so that she can get some blood drawn. She doesn't like it and I don't blame her. She sits on Edward's lap while the nurse takes the blood. No tears, surprisingly. I think she's getting used to having to take all of these tests.

Edward and I discuss what the doctor said about school after Abby goes to bed that night. We don't want to home school her just because she would be so sheltered. We'll definitely look into that school that Dr. Conley suggested. It is also a relief that he said that the baby won't likely have an allergy.


	10. Chapter 10

**Edward POV**

Emmett, Jasper and I send our wives out to wherever they are going so that we can start painting the nursery on Saturday morning. After the three of us and the girls eat some pizza for lunch, the girls go into the play room so that we can paint. Emmett sits Broden in his car seat in the hallway so that he isn't in the room with all of the paint fumes.

I tell them what Bella wants done and then we start taping the walls. Jasper checks to make sure the girls are ok. He comes back in and we start painting the room. Emmett starts on the top color while Jasper and I start on the bottom part of the wall.

After a few minutes of silence Emmett asks, "So, Edward, is Abby going to kindergarten in the fall?"

"Most likely. We just saw her doctor on Tuesday. He pretty much said that it's our choice. He also said that Dalton is peanut-free, so I think Bella and I are going to check it out. I just don't want to have to keep her home and not be able to go to a public school."

"That would suck." Jasper says.

"Yeah. We don't want to make her stay home because of her allergy and Bella would probably have to quit her job or get a new one or something so that she could stay home with her when I'm at work."

"How is she going to get there? Bella won't be able to take her. Unless you can."

"That's a very good question. She won't be able to ride the bus because she'll be open-enrolled. Bella and I will have to talk about that, but we haven't even decided if she will go. Most likely, I think she will, but the doctor brought up a good point. Just because the school is peanut-free, doesn't mean that other kids are peanut-free. They may have eaten a granola bar or something with nuts in it."

"That's a good thing to consider." Emmett says.

"Did you and Ali see a doctor yet?" I ask.

"Yeah, everything looks good. Due date is September 5th."

"I swear, Jazz, if you have a girl, she's going to be just like Alice." Emmett says.

"Oh, Lord, help us all if that happens. She's already planning the nursery."

Emmett and I both laugh. "That's going to be an experience for you that I can't help you with." I say. "Bella was never like that. We didn't start looking at nursery stuff until we found out what we were having. The only things we looked at were car seats and furniture. The things that didn't really matter. Once we found out what we were having she started dragging me out to register for things and look at clothes and start painting."

"Rose was scared to death to do anything for a while. We weren't expecting to have twins at all, much less with the first pregnancy. We were relieved when the doctor said that there was only one bun in the oven with Broden." Emmett said. I guess both of us have it easy when it comes to doing things like clothes and nursery shopping. Jasper is in for a long nine months of shopping and baby prepping with Alice.

"Your wives are less fashion obsessed. My wife does fashion for a living."

"Uh, Rosalie is pretty picky when it comes to her shoes. Trust me. She tore the house apart the other day when she couldn't find a certain pair of shoes. I tried to just get her to wear a different pair, but she gave me a death glare and kept searching."

"I remember Bella coming home after they went dress shopping for your wedding saying that Rose dragged them all out for that, too." I say.

"That woman loves shoes. And she's passed that trait onto Paige."

"I can see that," Jasper says. "Paige is going to be the girly one and Emmalie is going to be the athletic one."

"Em told us the other day that she wants to play volleyball and softball when she's older. Paige is going to be the artistic one. I'm hoping Broden will get into football."

"If he's anything like his dad, he will be into football so much that he gets suspended from the team for two weeks for going off on a ref after a bad call." I reply thinking of that game that he got pissed off at.

"Hey, man, that was a terrible call. You would've been pissed too."

"Yeah, but I don't think I would've been that mad."

"Abby and the baby are going to be the softball and track stars. Along with piano prodigy from you and bookworm from Bella."

"Abby's definitely the musical one. She wants me to teach her how to play. I don't know so much about sports, though."

"I guess we'll have to see how all of our kids turn out." Jasper says.

We take a break from painting over halfway through. Bella calls to ask how everything is going and how it looks. I tell her that it's not done yet, but it looks good. She says that she and the girls are having a good time and we hang up not long after. She says that they'll only be a couple more hours before they get home.

We finish the room an hour later. As we're walking downstairs, we hear the girls talking to each other in the living room. It sounds like they're arguing so we stop on the stairs and listen for a minute.

"I'm not allowed to. Mommy said that I might get really sick and need to go to the hospital," Abby says.

"No you won't. We play outside all the time. You won't go to the hospital," I hear Paige tell her.

"Yeah, Abby, we never go to the hospital when we play outside. C'mon, put your coat and shoes on and let's go," Emmalie says.

"No," Abby says and I'm proud of her putting her foot down.

Emmett and I look at each other. Jasper just laughs a little. We walk down the rest of the steps just in time to see Emmalie and Paige walking out the back door.

"Emmalie Lillian and Paige Riley Cullen," Emmett says, handing Broden to me and crossing his arms. Emmett doesn't get mad at the girls often, but he is now. The girls freeze and turn around slowly. They look incredibly guilty. "Shoes and coats off. Now." Slowly they take everything off. Emmett still has a stern look on his face and his arms crossed. When they've taken all of their winter gear off, Emmett points them upstairs and follows them up.

I figure that Emmett will be a while. Jasper changes Broden while I get his bottle ready. Jasper volunteers to feed him while Emmett is upstairs.

Abby is sitting on the couch, looking like something is bothering her. "Daddy, am I in trouble, too?"

"No, no, you are not in trouble. I heard you when you told them that you can't go outside for a while. That was very good, Abby."

She smiles and says, "Ok. Can I have a cookie, please?"

"Sure. Go get one."


	11. Chapter 11

**Bella POV**

While the boys are painting the nursery, Alice planned on her, Rose and I to go get our nails done and do some shopping. Esme had to cancel on us because she isn't feeling well. As much as I'm not particularly fond of shopping, it's nice to get out with the girls for a few hours. It's been so long that we have since Rosalie had Broden in August. We probably won't get another girls day out anytime soon with the baby coming in the spring and Alice's in September.

We get our nails and toes done first. Alice discusses her new line that's going to be coming out and her plans to keep getting her name out. I don't have any doubt that her designs will be in Fashion Week sometime in the near future. Rosalie tells us about the latest case she's taken. Rose is a well-known criminal lawyer in Seattle, handling the best cases of rapes, murders, abuse and any other serious crimes. The newest one is of a woman that was raped and murdered by her fiancée and a couple of other men. What a shame. She had family and friends and a life that was brutally taken from her. Rosalie thinks that she has a pretty good chance of putting that man and the others in jail. Alice asks about our decision to put Abby in school. I tell her that we're going to check out Dalton since it's peanut-free and then decide from there. Most likely, I think that she will go.

After we get that done, we go out to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Lunch is enjoyable and each of us orders a piece of cheesecake to go. Rose starts driving toward the mall so that we can go shopping. When we get there we decide to go to the maternity store to get Alice started on clothes. I also need to get some new shirts, as well, to wear for school. Alice buys a few tops and pairs of pants to get her started. No doubt she'll be back with Jasper in a few months. I don't think she'll be very far into her pregnancy that she'll start showing because she's already so tiny.

We decide to sit down and take a coffee break at Starbucks. There, I call Edward to see how everything is going. "We're taking a break. It's only halfway done, but it looks good already. Are you girls having fun?"

"Yeah. I got a few new shirts. We're drinking coffee right now, taking a break ourselves. Are the girls behaving?"

"Yes, Bella, all of us are fine. The girls are coloring at the table and Broden is playing on the floor with Emmett. We're all fine." He reassures me.

"How's her breathing?"

"She's ok. Nothing worse than what it has been. I think that as long as she doesn't go outside and make it worse that she will be fine."

"Ok, we'll be home in a few hours. We have a couple more stores to go to then we'll be on the way."

"Alright. Love you."

"Love you, too."

Edward and I hang up and the girls and I finish our coffee. We get up and head off for a baby store. Alice wants to start buying clothes for her baby, even though she isn't due until September and it's only January still. I guess starting early is never a bad thing, though. It gives me an opportunity to buy some more clothes for my baby and Rose to get some things for Broden.

I'm looking at girl clothes with Rose. Rose raises a tiny pink shirt and sighs. "I miss when my girls were this size."

"You can still buy little pink clothes for mine." I say. "And Alice's if she has a girl."

"I know, but it's not the same. Emmalie isn't the girly girl she used to be. She wants to play volleyball when she's older. Paige is the girly one, the one that's going to be an artist. And they aren't so little anymore."

"Neither is Abby. She's going to be starting kindergarten next year. Then it will be Broden. Then the two little ones. They have to grow up sometime, Rose."

"Yeah, and soon Emmalie will be playing pro sports, Paige will have paintings hanging in a museum, and Abby will be composing scores for the most anticipated movies coming out. Broden will be playing high school football. And whatever the two little ones will be in to." Says Alice.

"Yeah, I guess you're both right." Rosalie says, putting the shirt back on the rack. "They have to grow sometime."

"Well, I'm ready to check out if you girls are." I say.

After we check out, we decide to go to three more stores. Rosalie has to pick up her necklace up from the jewelry store that was getting fixed. After making our other two stops, we head for home. The car ride isn't long, and we're walking through the door not long after we leave. Alice puts her bags in her car before the three of us walk into the house. I set my things by the door and take my shoes off.

We walk into the living room. Jasper is playing with Broden, Abby is sitting on the floor eating a cookie and Edward walks out of the bathroom. Emmett and the girls are nowhere to be seen. Abby comes over to give me hug and asks if she got anything. I tell her that she did get something, but that's not the question you should ask every time we go shopping. She apologizes and goes back into the living room. Rose is looking around, trying to find Emmett and her girls, I assume.

"Where's Emmett and the girls?" she asks.

While passing Broden to her, Jasper says, "Upstairs. The girls are getting in trouble."

"For what?"

"They tried to sneak out of the house to play outside. Almost got away with it. They were walking out the door when we came down. They tried to get Abby to go out too, but she wouldn't go." Edward says.

"I told them that you and daddy said that I can't go outside because I might get sick and go to the hospital, but they didn't believe me." Abby informs me.

"Good job, Abby. I'm so glad you stood up and didn't let them convince you to do something that you aren't allowed to do."

"How long have they been up there?" Rose asks.

"Twenty minutes, maybe." Jasper says. "They must really be getting in trouble."

"They know better. Emmett's probably giving them an earful right now."

It's another good ten minutes before Emmett comes back downstairs. The girls trail behind him, looking very guilty and upset. They walk to where Abby is sitting. Emmalie says, "I'm sorry for trying to make you go outside with us."

"Me too." Paige says. Both girls sit at the dining room table.

"Edward and Jasper told me everything." Rose tells Emmett.

"I'm not happy with them." He replies.

"Me either. They both know better to be sneaking out in the first place. And to try to make Abby go out when she's trying to tell them that she won't is just so uncharacteristic of them."

"I know. Let's get the kids home. Broden hasn't slept all day, so I'm sure that he's tired and the girls need to get home too."

Alice and Jasper leave shortly after them. Edward and I decide to have a talk with Abby about what happened today. We tell her that what she did was the right thing. She needs to be able to tell other people no, especially when it comes to her asthma and food allergy. We just remind her of that and tell her what will happen if something does happen. It's good to remind her every once in a while.


	12. Chapter 12

**Edward POV**

Over a week has gone by since I painted the nursery and Paige and Emmalie tried to sneak out of the house. Emmett said that they won't be going anywhere for a while, and once again, I'm thankful that Abby didn't give in and try to go with them. I don't know what I would have done if she did go with them.

I have the day off, but Bella still has to go to work, so it's just Abby and I for the day. Even though I have the day off, I still have to go in to the hospital to pick something up from my office that I forgot, plus Abby and I need to run a few other errands.

Bella leaves for work at her usual 6:45 and I get in the shower right after she pulls out of the driveway. Abby is still asleep and I figure that she will be up soon. I stay in the shower an extra minute, letting the hot water warm me up. I step out and dry off, then wrap the towel around my waist and walk into our bedroom. I decide on a pair of jeans and a University of Washington shirt to wear. I pull my shirt over my head and walk back into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

Abby is in the kitchen when I walk downstairs. Milk and a box of cereal are on the counter and Abby is standing on a chair, trying to get a bowl from the cabinet. She stretches on her toes and has her tongue out in concentration. As cute as she looks, I have to stop her because either she's going to fall off of the chair, or a bowl is going to fall on her. Both of which I don't want to happen or explain to Bella. I grab her by the waist and set her on the floor. "Daddy, I want to get it by myself." she protests.

"I know, Abby, but I don't want you to fall and get hurt. If you want something you just have to ask."

I get her cereal ready and set it on the bar. I unload and reload the dishwasher as she eats. "Are we going to do anything today?" she asks.

"Yes. We have to go to daddy's work to pick something up and go to the grocery store for a few things and mommy took my car so that we can pick up the crib for the baby's room. We need to go to the bank, too."

After Abby finishes eating her breakfast, I send her upstairs to brush her teeth and comb her hair. I help her put her hair up, not doing as well as Bella would, but Abby doesn't really care that it's not perfect. She gets dressed and I let her watch TV for a little bit while I give Lucky some food and water and put some laundry in the dryer.

"Abby, get your shoes and coat on." I say and turn the TV off.

Abby and I get our shoes and coats on. I let Lucky back inside and take the keys to Bella's car. Abby goes out to the car in front of me and buckles herself into her booster seat. I back out of the driveway and head for the hospital as the first stop.

"Hello, Dr. Cullen." The older woman at the front desk greets me. "Here's your paycheck." She hands me an envelope with my name on it.

"Thank you, Beth." I say.

Beth looks over the counter and sees Abby. "Hi, Abby. How are you?"

"Hi." Abby says quietly. "I'm good."

"I heard that you're going to have a little sister. Is that right?"

"Yes. Daddy said that we have to buy her bed today."

"Well, I bet that's exciting. Edward, do you mind if she has a sucker? They're safe, I promise."

"Not at all. Abby do you want a sucker?"

Abby nods and goes around the corner to the other side of the desk. Beth holds a basket out and Abby very carefully picks out the sucker that she wants. After saying thank you, Abby and I take the elevator up to the third floor, where my office is. I unlock the door and Abby and I walk in. Abby sits in one of the chairs in front of the desk. I take a paper out of one of the desk drawers and start to fill it out. Dr. Collins sees that my door is slightly open and comes in to see why.

"Dr. Cullen, I thought today is your day off."

"Oh, it is. I just had to come in for a few minutes."

He nods. "And who is this beautiful young lady." he squats down to Abby's eye level.

"I'm Abby." she says.

"Well, Abby, your daddy talks about you all the time. You sure have grown since I saw you last. And you're still pretty, just like your mom."

"Thank you." she blushes. Yes, just like her mother.

"Actually, Edward, the patient in 279 won't talk to anyone but you. follow tried to tell her that you aren't here today, but she refuses to let me talk to her. I know it's your day off, but do you mind?"

"Yeah, I'll talk to her. I'll just go see if Beth can watch Abby for a few minutes."

I take Abby downstairs and ask Beth if she can watch her for a few minutes. I check on the patient, talking to her for a few minutes. After about a half hour goes by, I get Abby and we leave, heading off to get my check cashed. Then we go to the store to pick up the crib. A few men from the store load it into Bella's car and now that's one more thing that's done. I'll have to put it together before Bella gets home, because I told her that it will be done.

Our last stop is the grocery store before we go home. We buy the usual things- milk, apples, cereal, and the other things that we usually eat. Abby asks if she can get a candy bar, but the one she wants, and most of the other ones too, have peanuts in them so I have to tell her no. Plus she's already had a sucker and hasn't eaten lunch yet.

Bella calls me on her lunch break. She forgot to tell me that there is a meeting after school, so she won't be home until late. She also asks how the days has gone and I tell her that everything has gone fine. When I ask about her, she seems a little stressed, but that's not unusual this time of year when her students are starting on research papers. I let her get back to her lunch and continue shopping with Abby. Then I notice that it's almost 12:30 as we're getting ready to leave the store.

Abby keeps complaining that she's hungry so I know that lunch needs to be quick and easy. I boil some water in two pots to make hotdogs and macaroni and cheese. As it's cooking Abby sits at the bar and looks through one of the many books she has. It keeps her occupied and the house is silent for a little. Abby stares at her book and Lucky is somewhere upstairs, probably sleeping. Abby and I eat, talking about anything and everything that she can think of. After lunch I clean everything up and head up to put the crib together. Abby goes into her room to play. She wants to watch and help, but I don't want her around all of the small pieces of the crib.

I take out the instructions and everything else that's in the box. I make sure that everything is there before I start to assemble the crib. I get a good ways into it, almost half way, when the doorbell rings. I am confused and I have to think for a minute if I should be expecting anyone to come. Nothing comes to mind so I wonder if it might be a neighbor or something.

I walk downstairs and let the dog out of the back door first. I walk up to the front door and look out the window. There is no car in the driveway, but there is a small gold car parked on the street that I don't recognize. When I open the door I have to look twice to make sure that I'm seeing the right person.


	13. Chapter 13

I look at who's at the door and blink, thinking my mind is playing tricks on me. But it's not. The person at the door is short with brown hair and blue eyes. I try to think of how long it's been since I have even seen this person. Well, Bella and I have been married for a little over five years. It's been over six years since I've seen this person- or even talked to. Why is she here?

"Renee?" I ask.

"Hello, Edward." Her eyes scan the inside of the house.

"Why are you here? How did you find out where we live?" I interrogate. This doesn't make any sense.

"Edward, my ex-husband is a police officer. I have connections. Can I please come in?"

Bella's going to kill me for this, but I say, "Sure." and I step out of the way.

Renee steps into the entrance of the house and looks around for a second. "You and Bella have a very nice home." she says.

"Thank you." I say, but it's awkward. I want to know why she's here and why she decided to just show up to our house after six years of being absent. "Would you like anything to eat or drink?" I ask only to be polite.

"Oh, no thank you." she says.

I turn around when I hear someone walking on the stairs. "Daddy, who is that?" Abby points to Renee.

"What did we say about pointing, Abby? It's rude." She puts her finger down. "Honey, I need you to go back upstairs and play in your room for a little bit."

"Can I have a juice box?"

"Yes, you may get one out of the fridge." Abby walks into the kitchen and takes a second glance at Renee. How am I going to explain this to her? She comes back in and asks if I can help her put the straw in the juice box and walks back up to her room. "Do you want to sit down?" I turn back to Renee.

"Yes."

I lead Renee into the living room. She takes a seat on the couch while I sit in the chair across from her. She continues to look around the room while rubbing her hands together. She seems nervous about something, but I can't see what. Maybe it's the fact that she's here after not even trying to talk to us for six years, but then why is she here?

"Renee," she looks to me. "Why are you here?"

It's silent for a moment. "She's beautiful." I assume she's referencing to Abby.

"Just like her mother. Why are you here?"

"Edward, I know it's been a while. How long has it been?"

"Over six years."

"Right." she whispers. "Anyways, I just want to see Bella."

"Well, she isn't home right now." I look at the clock. It says that it's two o' clock. Bella should be home in forty five minutes, but she's staying late for that meeting. I'm thankful for that now. Maybe I can get Renee out of the house before Bella gets home and we can avoid World War III here. "She has a meeting at work today. She won't be home until later than usual."

"Oh. That's ok."

"Renee, it's been six years. You haven't tried to communicate with us. Now you want to see Bella all of a sudden. What's going on?"

"Do I need a reason to see my daughter?" she says in a defensive tone.

"When you haven't seen or talked to her in six years, yes. Why are you here?" I'm getting angry now. She won't give me a straight answer and it's really starting to piss me off.

"Edward, I know that's it's been so long. As the years have gone by, I've realized that I wasn't being the mother I should've been when you guys announced your engagement."

"I agree." I state bluntly.

"Now that Phil and I are getting a divorce, I've realized that I need to be there for Bella."

"So you want to get back in touch with Bella because you're lonely?" I ask.

"No. I mean, that isn't the only reason. I want to be there for Bella when she needs me. Whenever she's going through something hard or she just needs someone to talk to. I want to rebuild our relationship."

"I think my mother took over that role, along with my sister and sister-in-law. I'm pretty sure that Bella doesn't want to rebuild your relationship anyway."

"That's understandable. After all, I wasn't there for anything. I got the birth announcement for Abby. It's still sitting on top of the fireplace." she makes a small smile.

"Good. I bet it's nice to have a reminder of what you decided to leave behind." I realize that I must sound like an ass, but I really don't care at this point.

"It is a reminder. I know that I screwed up, but I want to leave that all behind. I want to start over with her. Phil and I are getting a divorce and I've decided to move here if Bella will allow me." she looks hopeful.

"I think that it's going to take a lot more convincing than the fact that _you _want to rebuild that relationship. You know how stubborn Bella can be. It's not going to be easy to convince her to let just let you back into her life. Especially when Abby is involved."

"Why would she be involved?"

"Renee, you can't just come into our house and expect her to start calling you grandma. You're a stranger to her. I don't think Bella has ever even mentioned you to Abby because there was never a reason to say anything. She's never asked where you are or anything. I don't think Abby even understands the concept of having a grandma on my side or her's." I hope Abby isn't listening in. I might be in trouble if she is. How do you explain all of this to a four-year-old? "Speaking of Abby, can you go in the kitchen and wash your hands and face please?"

"Sure." she has a questioning look on her face but she gets up and goes to the kitchen without asking anything.

When she comes back in I say, "Sorry, I don't want to take any chances. She's allergic to nuts. I didn't want you to touch anything if you had nuts on your hands."

"Oh. I see. How bad is she allergic?"

"As bad as it can be. She has asthma, too."

"Poor baby." she says. _Like she has a right to call her that, _I think.

"Why are you and Phil divorcing?" Now it's my turn to ask the questions.

"We don't communicate anymore. We sit at the dinner table and have nothing to say to each other. It was driving us both insane. We tried marriage counseling and that didn't seem to help any. Then he caught me in an affair. Please don't think anything less of me. I've realized my mistake. I shouldn't have done what I did, but at the moment, I just wanted someone to listen to me."

From right across the house, I hear the garage door open. I look at the clock. It's 2:40. Bella shouldn't be here this early; she said that she has a meeting today. "I'll be right back. Stay in here." I say and practically run out of the room. _What am I going to say to Bella? _I think. I am screwed.

I open the door to the garage as Bella is getting her things out of the car. "I thought you had a meeting today." I say and take her bag from her.

"Didn't you get my message? Nicole's sister went into premature labor and her husband is out of town so she had to leave around seventh period and we need to reschedule the meeting."

"Oh."

"Is something wrong?" she must see that I'm nervous or something. Crap. She's going to want to know what's going on and I still don't have the faintest idea what to say.

"Just don't go in the living room when you go in the house."

"Is there a surprise or something in there?"

"Oh, yes. You have a big surprise waiting in the living room for you."


	14. Chapter 14

**Bella POV**

Edward is acting weird. What is up with him? And the way he said, "Oh, yes. You have a big surprise waiting in the living room for you," makes me wonder what's there. He seems nervous about whatever it is. He's acting like my mother is here or something. "Where's Abby?"

"Upstairs. I've almost got the crib put together."

"That's good. What's in the living room?" I say as Edward follows me into the house.

"You'll see." I hate surprises. I wish he would just tell me, but I know he won't.

Edward sets my bag down on the kitchen table and takes my coat to hang up. I take a fruit bar out of the snack jar and start to eat it. Edward leans against the counter with his hands in his hair, pulling in frustration. He sighs heavily. Something is up and I want to know what. I don't think I've ever seen him this anxious about something except maybe when I was in labor with Abby.

I finish the fruit bar and ask, "Can I go see?"

"If you want." he grumbles.

I leave Edward in the kitchen to rid himself of whatever is bothering him. When I walk into the living room, I see what's bothering him. "Why the hell are you in my house?" I practically scream.

"Surprise." Edward says non enthusiastically from behind.

"Bella." Renee gets up from the couch. "Hi, sweetie. It's been so long."

"Yes, and there's a reason for that." I say. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk about some things. Nothing bad has happened really, but I feel that we need to talk."

"Hold on just a minute." I walk back into the kitchen and pull Edward further away from the living room. "What the hell, Edward. Why is she here? How does she know where we live? What does she want?" I whisper yell.

"Hey, slow down there." He takes my wrists and pulls them down to my waist. I hadn't realized I was using them in my rant. I only respond my crossing my arms. "I was hoping she'd be out of here before you got home. She wants to talk to you about something even though I think I pretty much gave her the answer for you. She found out where we live because she has connections with your dad's department."

"Does Abby know?"

"No, she came down shortly after she got here and just asked who she is. I didn't say anything and I just sent her back upstairs."

"Then you need to call your mom or something and have Abby picked up. I don't want her here right now. Not with Renee here and not when World War III is about to break out."

"Ok. I'll call my mom and have her pick Abby up." He takes my phone out and dials Esme. No one answers so Carlisle must be at work and Esme must not be home or something. He calls Alice and only asks if she can pick Abby up for a few hours without explaining anything else. She says that she'll be at the house in ten minutes.

I run upstairs to say hi to Abby and ask how the day went. She asks who is downstairs but I quickly change the topic. I tell her to pick out a few toys to put in a bag to take to Alice's house. We go into the house entrance then so that she can put her shoes and coat on to wait for Alice. I also put an epi-pen and her inhaler in her bag just in case. When Alice walks up to the house, I don't say much. "My m-o-t-h-e-r decided to show up today." I say through gritted teeth.

"Oh." Her eyes become wide as she knows what I mean. I take Abby's booster seat out of my car and give it to her. I kiss Abby goodbye before Alice drives away.

Before I walk back into the house I take a deep breath and pray that Renee will just leave and we can act like this never happened. It's doubtful, but I still hope. I walk back into the living room. Edward and Renee are sitting across from each other. Edward doesn't look particularly happy and I think it's a mutual feeling. I sit in the chair next to him.

"So why are you here?" I ask her again.

"Bella," she pauses. "It's been a long time, I know. And I know that I screwed up."

"That you did." I accuse.

"Yes. But I want to make up for that. I want to start over. I want to be there when you need me."

"It's been over six years, Renee. And I'm doing just fine."

"Yes, I see that. Abby's beautiful, you know."

"She takes after her dad's side. Can we get to the point please?"

"Yes. Honey, I just want you to know that I am the one that screwed up. I can see that you and Edward are very happy together and now you've got Abby. I can say that I am a little upset that you didn't tell me that you're expecting again, though."

"Why would we?" I say, angry. "You have no business knowing what goes on in this household. You chose to leave me and the rest of my family behind when you didn't want us to get married. You didn't come to the wedding. You're lucky I sent that birth announcement to you. Did you even look at it? Do you even know her name?"

"Abigail Anne Cullen born July 22, 2007. I still have it on my fridge." I'm impressed that she knows this. "And I wasn't going to attend something that I wasn't supportive of. That isn't the point. The point is that I've missed out on a lot over the past few years. I want to rebuild our relationship."

"What brought this on?" I demand.

"Phil and I are getting divorced. We never have anything to say to each other anymore. I was alone and desperate to have someone pay attention to me. I cheated on him. Then I realized that I was putting you in the same situation, leaving you alone and not helping you out when you needed it."

"So you're saying that I'm lonely? Well I'm not." I pinch the bridge of my nose, a habit that I picked up from Edward. "Listen, I tried. I really did try to communicate with you. But you didn't try back. I sent you a wedding invitation, a birth announcement, and shower invitations. I'm pretty sure that I sent a party invitation for Abby's first birthday, too. If you really wanted to be a part of this family, then at least something- a card, a phone call, anything- would have been nice. But you didn't. So, no, I don't want to rebuild our relationship."

"Bella, calm down. This isn't good for you or the baby." Edward tries to tell me calmly. I glower at him and that seems to get him to back off.

Renee purses her lips in a firm line. I can tell that she isn't happy about what I said. Then she says the thing that really pushes both Edward and I over the limit. "I wonder where Abby got the blonde hair from. Not from our family and not from Edward. Hm, where did she get the blonde hair from? It's awfully blonde."

"What are you saying?" I ask through clenched teeth, though I think I know what she's trying to get at.

"Well, no one in our family has blonde hair. Edward's hair is more bronze than anything."

"Are you accusing her of cheating?" Edward almost yells.

"I'm just saying." she says.

"First, my father has blonde hair, just like she does. Second, you don't accuse my wife of cheating when you are guilty of it yourself. Third, get out of my house."

"With pleasure." Renee gets up and walks to the front door. She slams the door and makes me jump. I watch out the window as she drives off.

The tears start almost immediately. Edward leans over and wraps his arms around me to comfort me. "Shh." he says and strokes my hair. "Bella, don't listen to her. Nothing she said is true. She won't come around anymore. Shh."

"Edward, I don't want her to come back. She knows where we live now. She could show up again and I don't want to be around when that happens."

"She won't. She's gone. She's probably just angry right now and won't want to come around anymore."

I sniffle. "I need to talk to dad. Tell him that she came." I get up form the couch and start to go get my phone. Edward grabs my hand, stopping me.

"Bella, you need to calm down first. Get something to drink and calm down a little. I don't want you to get too stressed."

I think about it for a second, thinking only about the baby and not myself. "Ok. I guess you're right." I sit back down. Edward gets me a glass of water and tells me to drink it and then hands me the remote. I drink the water and flip through the channels. I don't find anything to watch so I go in the kitchen and help Edward cook dinner. It'll help me focus on what I'm doing, where as watching TV will only make my mind wander.

"I talked to Alice. She said that they can keep Abby for tonight." Edward informs me.

"She doesn't have any clothes or anything, though."

"Bella, did you forget who she's with? Alice will take care of her."


	15. Chapter 15

I call Alice after dinner just to check on Abby and make sure that she doesn't need anything. In my rush to get her out of the house, I didn't really have the chance to talk to her or say goodbye. Alice reassures me that she's fine and doesn't need anything. Alice has clothes and everything covered. Of course. Alice asks about what went on, but I say that I'll tell her later and ask if I can pick Abby up tomorrow after work. Alice says that she'll watch Abby since she can work from home and I can pick her up whenever.

I also call Charlie. "Guess who visited today, dad." I say in a sarcastically happy voice. He catches on to that.

"Who?" he asks, curious.

"Your ex-wife. Renee."

"What? She came to your house?" he asks, exasperated.

"Yeah. She showed up here while I was still at work."

"She stayed until you got home?"

"Edward and Abby were home. Edward only invited her in because he knew that she would stay even if he didn't."

"Why was she there, Bella?"

"She said that her and Phil are getting a divorce. And that she wants us to get our relationship back to how it was before we told her about the engagement. She thinks I'm lonely since she left."

"What did you say? I hope you told her no."

"Oh, I did. I told her that I tried in the beginning and that I am tired of trying, so she left everything behind and she isn't getting it back. She also said that she's upset that we didn't tell her that I'm pregnant and I told her that it's none of her business anymore; she's lucky I sent a birth announcement for Abby. Then she accused me of cheating because of Abby's blonde hair."

"She accused you of cheating?" He asks in a disbelieving tone.

"Yup. She said something about her hair being really blonde and how no one in our family has blonde hair and she definitely didn't get it from Edward."

"She got the hair from his dad, though."

"I know. We said that. Then Edward made her get out of the house and she said that it was a pleasure to be leaving."

I hear him sigh. "Where was Abby during all of this?"

"I called Alice as soon as I found out she was here. Alice picked her up because I didn't want her to be here while everything was going on and being said. I guess she came downstairs when Renee got here and asked who she is, but Edward sent her back upstairs immediately. I don't want Renee to have anything to do with her, much less be talking to her."

"Ok. Good. I just didn't want Renee to say something and Abby hear it. We don't need her to be asking questions when she won't be able to understand anything that's going on. Why is she getting a divorce?"

"I don't know exactly. She said that they don't have anything to say to each other anymore and she was caught in an affair. She said this right before she accused me of cheating and that's when Edward blew up on her too and made her get out."

"So, nothing happened other than you guys trying not to kill each other. Well, you trying not to kill her. Everyone's ok, right?"

"Yeah. Edward and I are ok. Abby is staying at Alice's tonight. I just hope that Renee doesn't come around again. Especially if Abby is around. I don't want to confuse her with anything."

"Ok, good. You're doing the right thing. If she's going to act like that and say that kind of stuff, then there's no need for her to have any part of your lives. How did she find your address?"

"From someone at the station. She didn't say who."

"Well, it definitely wasn't me."

"I know."

"How's the other one doing?"

I look down at my stomach where I have one hand placed. "She's active today. She's been kicking a lot since everything happened."

"Well, she probably was stressed out and worked up like you were. Don't stress her out."

"I won't, I promise. As long as she doesn't show up again, I think I'll be fine."

"If she does, you call me immediately."

"Got it, chief. I'll talk to you later."

"Ok, bye."

I put my cell phone on the charger and walk into the living room where Edward is watching a basketball game. I take some quizzes out of my bag and start to grade them. I planned on doing this during my free period tomorrow, but this keeps my mind on something else and not the fact that Renee was at the house only a few hours ago. It's still early when I finish, so I put them online, too, and start to look over the thesis statements that my English students are going to use. I'm constantly having to write the words 'more specific' on them, or just saying that it isn't a very good sentence altogether.

Edward's basketball game ends and he says that he's going up to bed. I finish the last paper I have and follow him upstairs. We get ready for bed and I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

5:45 comes around and I wake up unwillingly. I didn't sleep very comfortably last night and I don't know if that's because of the pregnancy or because my mind was swamped with yesterday's events. All I have to say about her is that she better not come around my family again. One benefit of being the chief of police's daughter is that you always have at least one person of authority on your side. God help her if she tries to come into my house again.

After school I follow Jasper to his house to pick Abby up. I yell for her when I walk in the door, but then I hear a loud, "Shh!" come from down the hall. I walk into the living room and see Alice sitting on the couch with her laptop. She's pointing to the floor and when I look down I see Abby curled up with a blanket sleeping. "She just fell asleep an hour ago."

"Sorry" I whisper. I sit on the couch next to her. "Has she been good?"

"Yeah. She had a little meltdown around bedtime, but other than that she was just fine."

"I wish you would've said something. We would've come to get her if she was any trouble." I feel guilty now if Abby was too much for them.

"Nah, she was fine. It lasted all of ten minutes and that was it. Is Edward working tonight?"

"Yeah, he won't get home until probably 11:30 if he's not working overtime."

"Do you want to stay for dinner?" she offers. "I think Jazz is going to make lasagna."

"Sure." I say. "Thanks."

"So what happened yesterday?" she asks after a moment.

"Renee showed up to the house while I was work. She basically said that her and Phil are divorcing and she's lonely now. She wants to rebuild our relationship, but I told her no since I tried so hard to in the beginning. I'm tired of my useless attempts. When I told her that she started asking about Abby's hair and how could it be so blonde if she didn't get it from my side, nor does Edward have blonde hair. To sum it up, she said that I cheated on him and then Edward blew up on her and told her to leave. She accuses me of cheating right after she says that one of the reasons she is getting a divorce is because Phil caught her cheating."

"Wow. How could she use that against you. Especially after what you guys went through in high school. And then use Abby as the proof." she shakes her head.

"I know."

Our junior year of high school, there was a kid in our class named Mike Newton. I knew he had a crush on me since fifth grade, but I didn't think that he would take it so far as to pretty much stalk me from then on out. Edward and his family moved to Forks our freshmen year, but we didn't start dating until well into our sophomore year. Newton, as well as the rest of the school, was well aware of our relationship. Towards the middle of junior year, most of the cars were out of the parking lot, except for mine, Edward's and the guys on the basketball team because they had practice. Edward was still inside and I was walking to my car. Mike was at his car, getting something for practice. Once he was done there, he called me over. I went over even though I didn't want to. "What do you want, Mike?" I had asked. He grabbed me and kissed me. I didn't have a chance to try to fight him off because Edward must've come outside right then.

"Bella?" I heard and so did Mike. Both of us turned towards him. Edward's face was a mixture of anger and hurt.

"Edward, it's not-" I tried to start.

"I don't want to hear it," he stated simply and got in his car and left immediately.

I watched him fly out of the parking lot. I turned back to Mike. He had a smirk on his face. "Finally got him away from you," he said.

"Asshole." And I got in my car to leave. I don't know how many times I called Edward and went to his house before he would finally talk to me again and listen to the story. It was almost a month I think before he would and I could tell him what happened. Mike and I didn't talk much after that, only when forced to. And no matter what came out of his mouth, even if he was just answering a question, I wanted to kill him.


	16. Chapter 16

"Abby, did you have fun with aunt Alice and uncle Jasper last night?" I ask as I drive home.

"Yes, but I didn't like it when I had to go to sleep." she says.

"I heard that. Why didn't you want to go to sleep?"

"I didn't have my pink blanket that Nana made me."

"Oh, I'm sorry, baby. If I had known that you were going to stay there last night, I would have made sure that you had your blanket."

"Ali found one and said that I could use it last night."

"That was nice. Is that a new outfit that Ali gave you?"

"Yeah," she cheers up a little. "She said that I'm special because no one else has ever worn this outfit before."

"That's pretty cool, Abby. Did you know that Ali and Jasper are going to have a baby just like mommy and daddy?"

"Why?" she asks. I haven't had this question yet.

"Because they love each other." I state simply.

"Oh." She looks down at her feet with a concentrating look on her face. "Do you love daddy?"

I laugh a little. "Yes, I love daddy lots and lots."

"Is daddy home?"

"No, honey. He won't be home until after you're in bed. I'll make sure he says good night to you when he gets home, though."

When we get home, it's starting to get late. I make Abby get a bath as soon as we get home and have her dressed and teeth brushed not too long after her bed time. She gets settled in to bed with her blanket. I give her a kiss and start to walk out of her room after I shut the light off. I don't have the door shut when she says, "Mommy, who was that lady that daddy was talking to the other day?"

I sigh. I guess I should have seen this coming sooner or later, but I haven't really prepared what I was going to say. I wish Edward was here to help with this. I walk over and sit on the foot of the bed. I look down at my wedding ring and hold it up. "See this, Abby? It's called a wedding ring."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I got married to daddy. It shows that I love him a lot."

"I thought that having a baby means that you love him a lot." She scrunches her face up in confusion.

"That does too. Abby, that lady that was here yesterday, that's my mommy. She used to be married to grandpa Charlie. You haven't met her."

"Why?"

I have to think about it for a second. How do I tell a four-year-old without giving her all of the details. "Abby, daddy and I got married before you were born. When we told my mommy that we were going to get married, she didn't want us to. She said some really mean things about me and daddy wanting to get married."

"Did she say sorry?" The innocent mind of a child. She thinks that things are always perfect. To be a child again.

"No, honey, she didn't say sorry." I shake my head.

"That's not nice. Whenever I do something mean, you always make me say sorry."

"And that's a very good thing, Abby. Since my mommy said those mean things, daddy and I don't talk to her anymore. Not for a very long time. Daddy and I didn't know that she was going to come to the house the other day."

"Why did daddy make me go to my room when she was here? Why did aunt Alice take me to her house?"

"Abby, daddy made you go upstairs to protect you. Daddy didn't want you to be there if she was going to say anymore mean things. You went to Alice's house because mommy and daddy needed to talk to my mommy and we didn't want you hear anything that she might have said."

"Is she going to come back here again?"

"No, she won't come back. I'll make sure of it." Unfortunately, I can't really promise this, seeing as how Renee knows where we live now. I can make sure that, even if she does come back, Abby won't be here when she does. It's the only thing I can hope for. "Now, it's pass your bed time. Goodnight, Abby."

"Night, mommy." she yawns. She has her eyes closed before I even get out the door.

I am so happy that that is out of the way, I think as I go into the living room and pick up a book. I don't read very far before my thoughts are distracted by everything that happened a few days ago. I didn't think that I would ever have to worry about Renee showing up to my house. God help her if she does come here again. I will not have her in my house making accusations that she is guilty of herself. And then say that she's upset we didn't tell her about the baby. She didn't know about Abby until after she was born, anyway. I scoff at the idea of sending her anything else, invitation and announcement wise, especially now that she wants one. Well, she did. I don't know if she even remotely cares anymore after we told her that we don't want her in our lives and we told her to get out of our house. Good. Hopefully it will keep her away.

I must've fallen asleep while reading my book and thinking about everything. I feel something brush my lips and swat at it. "Go away, dog." I mumble. I feel it again. "Damn dog." I hear a low laugh and I am startled awake. I see something over me and have to wait for my eyes to focus to realize that it's Edward.

"Hey, sleepy." he says.

"You scared me." I say.

"It's late. You want to come to bed?"

Edward and I walk upstairs and I change quickly. We settle into bed and I remember mine and Abby's conversation from earlier. "Abby asked about Renee."

"What did she say?"

"She wanted to know who she is and why she was here. She also asked why you made her go to her room and why we sent her to Alice and Jasper's house."

"Ok. We can talk about it later. Let's just go to bed for now."

"Sounds like a good idea." I yawn and drift off into a slumber that is far better than sleeping on the couch.


	17. Chapter 17

"I never thought I would have to explain marriage to a four-year-old." I say as I tell Edward about the conversation that Abby and I had last night.

"How did she take everything?" he asks as he fixes his tie.

"Fine, I guess. I don't think she fully understands, though. I think she was more upset when she asked me if Renee said sorry about saying what she said than anything."

"That doesn't surprise me. She doesn't have to say sorry a lot, but when other people should say it, she expects it out of them."

"That's not a bad thing." I say.

"No, it's not at all. I'm just concerned about when she gets older. I wouldn't doubt if she asks about her again. She sees my parents together and she might ask about why your parents aren't together. Then what do we say?"

"I guess, depending on how old she is, we can tell her the truth. She is going to find out exactly what happened and what was said eventually."

"I know. We can't keep her in the dark forever."

"I know. But I don't want her to know every little bad thing that happens. When she asked if Renee said sorry, I could only be reminded that she's just an innocent child who thinks that everything is right in this world and the worst thing that could ever happen is that she gets something taken from her for misbehaving. When she gets older, she's going to be exposed to a whole new world, even in just a few months when she starts school. I mean, she knows right from wrong most of the time and she showed that when Emmalie and Paige wanted her to go outside with them, but there is so much more to it than what an adult tells her she can and can't do. She's going to read books and watch movies and TV shows about murder and stealing and all kinds of things when she's older. I hate to think about it."

"Bella, no parent wants to think about that. She's our little girl. And we have another one on the way. Both girls are going to have to learn about the real world and all of the bad things in it. They don't have a bad home life, so I doubt that they're going to grow up wanting to do the bad things that people do. Bella, we're raising a good kid. And the baby will be a good kid, too."

I smile a little. "Yeah, I know. And Abby will be a good big sister."

"'The bestest big sister forever and ever' is what she would say." he says and we both laugh.

I look at the clock on the bedside table. "You're going to be late." I tell him.

He looks at the clock, too. "I guess I should be going. I love you. Have a fun snow day without me." he kisses me.

"Love you, too. Be careful out there."

I walk downstairs with him after making sure that Abby is still asleep. Once he's out the door and out of seeing distance I let Lucky out and make sure that he has food. I take advantage of Abby still being asleep and take a quick shower, then start looking at the thirty note cards that each of my English students have done for their papers. Hopefully Abby will cooperate today and let me work on these until I get done with them, or at least a good chunk of them done. I don't want to be grading them all weekend. Funny how we have a snow day and I still am up early and working on school stuff.

Abby wakes up and sits at the island beside me. "Morning, Abby."

"Morning. Can I have some cereal, please?" she asks in a sleepy voice.

"Sure, what kind do you want?"

"Do we have Lucky Charms?"

"Yes."

I get her and I a bowl and continue my work while I eat. Abby finishes her cereal and goes into the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she comes back down she asks, "Am I going to Courtney's house today?"

"No, the roads are too snowy. I don't have to go to work today so it's just us for today. Daddy still has to work, though."

"Can I stay in my jammies all day?"

"Yes, that's fine." I say and she seems very happy with this. "Abby, if you want to go shopping for the baby tomorrow, then you have to let me get my work done today. I have get this stuff done today before we can go shopping with aunt Alice tomorrow."

"But I will be bored all day." she whines. I do not want to deal with this today.

"Abby, daddy will he home around lunchtime. We can not go shopping if I don't get this stuff done. You can watch TV, play with Lucky or play with your toys. You're not going to be bored. And we are definitely not going to go shopping if you keep whining all day." I say in a stern voice.

"Can I play outside?"

"Ask daddy when he gets home. He needs to shovel the driveway, anyway."

Abby runs off and I'm glad that she doesn't whine anymore about it. I can grade these cards in peace, hopefully. At least until she wants something. The dog scratches at the back door so I let him in. Ok, now I can grade these without interruption.

I'm over half way done by the time Abby comes back into the kitchen asking me what we're having for lunch. I look in the pantry to grab a can of tomato to go with the grilled cheese and realize that we need to go to the store soon. I guess we are taking a trip to the grocery store on Sunday, I think to myself and make a mental note to start a list.

Edward comes home just as I'm putting the last of the soup into a bowl for him and takes a seat in his usual spot at the table. Abby doesn't hesitate to ask him if she can go outside with him when I ask if he can shovel the driveway.

"Have you let mommy do her work today?" he asks her.

"Yes." she says with a mouth full of food.

"Yes, you can go outside, but only for a little bit. It's awfully cold." he says.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth, please." I tell her.

She swallows and says, "Sorry, mommy."

"Thank you."

Abby and Edward go out while I finish the note cards, and I am actually done by dinner time. That surprises me because I'm usually up late working on them. I work with what we have for dinner. Edward gives me a weird look when he walks into the kitchen. "Do I smell bacon? Pancakes? Since when do we have breakfast for dinner, Bella?"

"Since we haven't gone to the store to do some real grocery shopping in a while."

"That's nice. We should do that more often. It's nice to have a change every once in a while."

"Coming from the one who didn't want to change Abby's room when she got older and said that he doesn't like change." I raise an eyebrow at him.

"That was last year." he claims.

"Whatever. You hate change."

"I may hate change, but I do love bacon." He holds a piece up and puts it in his mouth.

I give him the plate. "If you love it so much, then take it to the table." He takes the plate and goes into the dining room, both of us laughing.


	18. Chapter 18

Jasper calls the next morning to say that we have to cancel our shopping plans. It seems that Alice caught a bug that's been going around the office that she works at. Jasper sounds like he might be getting something too because his voice sounds deeper than it normally is. Abby isn't happy about it, but she gets to spend all day with Edward and I, so that helps her unhappiness a little. Edward has the day off and I don't have anything to work on, so we decide to go to the grocery store and replenish the fridge and pantry. After, we come home to eat lunch and Abby ends up falling asleep for a few hours on the couch.

While she's asleep Edward and I want to get some things done in the baby's room. Edward starts to hang the curtain above the crib and I nail a few pictures to the wall. He also hangs a shelf up and puts the dresser together while I start to wash and fold the clothes that we've gotten. She isn't even here yet and I think she has enough clothes to last her for a year. Only two and a half more months until she's here and the room will be officially complete with her in the crib.

It makes me think back to when Edward and I were getting Abby's nursery ready. Wow, I can't believe that it's been five years since we were getting her nursery ready and now we're getting ready to send her off to kindergarten. It doesn't seem real. I remember bringing her home, too. It was one of the few really hot days in July. Temperatures were nearing ninety, something that never happens when the average is usually between sixty-five and seventy-five. It was unbearable.

When we got home that day, we walked through the front door and was greeted with a pink welcome home banner, courtesy of Alice. Our fridge was also stocked full of food thanks to Rose and Esme and trust me when I say that we didn't starve and we ate well for two weeks. Esme also stayed in the guest room for a few days to help out with her.

Now we're getting another nursery ready and waiting for baby #2 to come. Pretty soon we'll be sending her to kindergarten and watching both girls grow up right before our eyes. Then, before we know it, we'll be watching them get married and have kids of their own that Edward and I can spoil just like Charlie, Carlisle and Esme spoil the grand kids.

I sigh. "Is something wrong, Bella?" Edward asks, but doesn't seem too concerned.

"No, everything is perfect." I reply.

Edward places his hand on top of mine on my stomach. The baby kicks and both of smile briefly like we do every time we feel the baby kick. She kicks again. "She's active today." he says.

"Yeah, she's been kicking a lot today. I don't remember Abby ever being so active."

"Me either. Maybe this one will be the athletic one. Abby is more of the musical one."

"When are you going to start giving her piano lessons?"

"I'll probably start after the baby is born. That way she can feel like she's getting attention too and not feel like she isn't getting any attention."

"Good idea. I have a feeling she's going to be like that for a few weeks, feeling like the baby is getting more attention than her."

"It's normal. She might feel that way and get jealous and she'll show it. Wanting to get in your lap when you have the baby. Always wanting to be in your personal space."

"She already does that."

"I know. But she might try to follow you everywhere or something like that. She might even ask to stay at my parent's house more often because she knows that the baby won't be there and she can get more attention."

"Maybe school will be good for her then. She can get away from the baby for a few hours during the day."

"Yeah, being away for a few hours will help. But that won't be until school starts in the fall. I think that as long as she knows she is getting attention and love just as much as the baby, then she'll be fine. I mean, she's actually excited about being a big sister now. And it is a major improvement from just a few weeks ago."

While I do agree with him on that, I have to admit, "Yes, it's a major improvement and I am so thankful for that, but if she was jealous like that already, before the baby is even here, then I don't know if I want to think about what she might be like after the baby is here. I know Emmalie and Paige were the same when Rosalie had Broden. And her and Emmett are still trying to work on them with the jealousy."

"I know. Emmett said that they both have been acting up and out of the ordinary lately. Trying to sneak out is the worst thing that they've done, but they do little things, too. Rose said that she caught one of the girls feeding peas to the dog. They're just asking for attention and will do anything to get it. They're five-year-old girls. I don't doubt that Abby might act the same way."

I hate to admit it, but I think that Edward might be a little bit right on this one. "As much as I hate to say it and think about it, I think you might be right."

"Of course I'm right." he jokes. "I'm a psychologist."

"Ok, but you aren't a child psychologist. You work at a hospital with teens and adults. Not kids."

"You know, I actually wanted to go into child psychology until I actually got to work with a child and realized that I think his parents needed more help than he did. Or his mother at least."

"So you realize that the parent needed more help than the child, so you go to work with adults. That doesn't make any sense." I accuse.

"It does, actually. Because now I can deal with the adults that need help and not the kids. Then I don't have to deal with the parents saying that I'm no help and that there's no reason that the child needs to be in my office. Half the time it's the mothers who want to send the child to a psychologist and the fathers are saying that it's not going to help."

"And I don't have to pay someone to help my family when they need to see a psychologist." I pat his cheek. "I knew there was a reason why I married you." I walk away to see if Abby is still asleep.

"And because of the pretty babies I give you." he shouts after me.


	19. Chapter 19

The roads are so much better by Monday and school is back in session. Edward has the day of so him and Abby have the day to themselves. I really did enjoy the long weekend, but I'm glad to be back so that we can get this research paper over with. I get to the school at my normal time and check my email. I grade a few tests from my other class to pass the time when kids start coming in. When the bell rings, I start class by handing back first period's note cards. I tell the kids that they need to have an outline typed to turn in on Wednesday, which they quietly grumble about.

"Guys, the outline is the easiest thing about the paper. All it is is pretty much just rewriting your note cards into an outline. It'll take ten minutes, if that."

Andrew says, "Then why are we doing it?"

"Because it will keep you more organized. Your note cards are all over the place and it's easy to loose a card or not be able to tell what goes where. With the outline, everything is in its place and it's better to use the outline for your basic points. The note cards should have your specific points on them; the outline is just very basic and helps you keep on track better. You all should have an outline guide in the packet that you got on the day you got back from break. You can use that to help you. And I know that you have all written outlines for papers before, so it shouldn't be that hard."

After a few more questions I let them start outlining. One person gets done and asks if it's ok. I tell her that it is and let her go to the library to type it. "If you finish before the end of the period, you can let me look over it and type it in the library." I say. Only one more person comes to me and I tell that person that they can type it up.

In Modern Lit., we discuss a new book that we're reading. This is the first year that I've taught _Safe Haven _by Nicholas Sparks and the students seem to be taking the book well so far. Of course, there are three boys in the class and they don't like the fact that we're reading Nicholas Sparks, but I tell them that there will be some action towards the end of the book and they lighten up a little after that. I also explain to them that Nicholas Sparks is one of the most popular authors of the time and tell them that it's not horrible to expand their horizons in literature. The girls ask why we aren't reading one of the more popular books, like the _Notebook. _I tell them it's because one: a lot of people have already read it and it's too popular of a book to be reading. I also say that I personally didn't like the _Notebook. _I thought it was boring and too simple. I like _Safe Haven_ because of the complexity of the characters, especially Katie, and I like that there is more suspense to it. The _Notebook _just didn't capture my attention. I didn't like the book, so why would I want to teach it? The class works on a few questions and we go over them for the rest of class.

By lunch time I've already answered most of everyone's questions multiple times and I know that kids are going to be asking the same questions sixth, seventh, and eighth period. Some kids ask other questions about the paper and I answer them as well. Fourth period didn't even get to start on theirs because they kept asking questions.

I eat lunch with the usual teachers in the teacher's lounge, including Jasper. I ask him how Alice is doing and he says that she's working from home today because she still doesn't feel well. He doesn't sound any better, either. He says that Alice had an ultrasound a few days ago and that everything looks healthy.

Fifth period passes by slowly. It's my conference period and I don't have much to do. I continue reading a book that I'm trying to decide if I want to teach it next year with my English class. So far, I love the book and think that it'll be good for next year. I've been teaching _Ender's Game _for six years and I'm getting bored with it. I want to replace it with _The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. _I'm fascinated by the book and seeing things through the eyes of an autistic child. I think the students next year will really like it. I mark my place at the end of the chapter when I see that the next class will be coming in in a few minutes. I find the note cards to pass back and get ready for them.

I'm in the middle of answering a question when the secretary comes over the intercom. "Mrs. Cullen."

"Yes?"

"You have a phone call in the office."

"Can it wait?"

"I don't think so. It sounds urgent."

"Alright, I'll be down in a minute." I say to her. "Yes, the outline does need to be typed. I will go over it with you and tell you what needs to be changed and then you'll need to make any corrections to it for the final outline that will be turned in with the final paper." I finish answering the question. "Start working on those while I'm gone, please. I'll be right back."

I walk down to the office and wonder who would be calling me at work. And what would be so important that it can't wait? I walk in and the secretary hands me the phone. I ask her who it is, but she only shrugs. "Bella Cullen." I answer.

"Bella, this is Dr. Jordan at Seattle Memorial Hospital." Why is the hospital calling me? I wonder.

"Hello, Dr. Jordan." I say, weary of the reason for the call. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Bella, your husband and daughter were in a car accident this afternoon. We need you to come here as soon as possible."

I don't expect the news and immediately go into panic mode. "I'll be right there." I say.

"Good. I'll be waiting for you on the sixth floor."

"Alright. Goodbye." I hang up quickly. "Can you get someone to cover the rest of my classes? I have to go to the hospital. Edward and Abby were in an accident." I tell the secretary.

"Yeah, go ahead, Bella. I'll get someone. Go."

I quickly walk back to my room and grab my bag and coat. I tell the students that I'm leaving and remind them that the outline is due on Wednesday. Some ask where I'm going and all I say is the hospital. Someone asks if I'm in labor, but I say no, that there's other reasons I have to go. Mr. Hall, the biology teacher, comes in as I rush out the door. On my way, I stop in Jasper's room. He's sitting on the computer, typing an email and looks up surprised when I come in.

"Don't you have a class right now, Bella? Where are you going?" he looks at me and sees my bag and coat.

"I have to go to the hospital. Edward and Abby were in an accident."

"Oh. Are they ok?" he asks.

"I don't know. I just got off the phone with the doctor. I'm leaving now."

"I hope they're ok."

"Yeah, me too." I say absently and go to my car.


	20. Chapter 20

I rush to the hospital, as fast as I can on the still icy roads. I go to the ER entrance and impatiently wait on the elevator to take me to the sixth floor. The doors finally open and I wait for the other people to get off the elevator before getting off. I round the corner and find Dr. Jordan looking at a file. "Dr. Jordan," I say.

He looks up. "Bella." he extends his hand out and I shake it.

"How are they?" I ask.

"Follow me." He starts to walk down the hall. I follow him and the hall seems like it's miles long. "We'll see Edward first since he's right here. Abigail is on the floor below in the children's wing. The accident wasn't major. There is no life threatening injuries, which is good. Edward got the worst of it. He has a concussion and four broken ribs, so he's in a lot of pain right now. That's the worst of it."

"What about Abigail?" I ask. I'm glad that Edward is ok and that a few broken ribs and concussion is the worst of it.

"Cuts and bruises from the glass. She might have a broken finger, but we're still waiting on the X-ray results. No head injuries for her. However, she may experience some Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder. She was pretty shaken up when the police and ambulance arrived. She could have nightmares, flashbacks, anything like that. I'm sure Edward can better tell you about that." Dr. Jordan stops at room 319 and gives a light knock.

"Come in." says a pained voice.

"I'll leave you two. I'm going to check on another patient and I'll take you to your daughter when you're ready.

"Thank you." he walks in the other direction. I brace myself for what I might see and take a deep breath. I open the door and walk in.

Edward is sitting in the hospital bed, looking like he is in so much pain. There are some cuts on his hands and face that I can see. His face is scrunched in pain, and I don't know what a broken rib feels like, but I think I can judge just by his face. "Hey, Bella," he says and it sounds like he's out of breath. He shuts his eyes tight in pain.

I pull a chair next to him and take a seat. "Are you in a lot of pain?" He nods. "The doctor said that you got the worst of it. Abigail has some cuts and bruises. They're still waiting on the X-ray results. She might have a broken finger. And he also said that she might experience some PTSD."

"Better me with the concussion and broken ribs than her. I'm glad that she's ok."

"Me too. I'm glad that you're ok, too."

"Have you seen her yet?"

"No. I just got here. Edward, what happened?"

"I was turning left at Cappa and Shust. The car that was supposed to stop slid through the intersection and hit us on my side. Both cars slid and eventually stopped when we hit a ditch. My head slammed into the side and I don't honestly know how my ribs were broken. The window broke. They said that my car is probably totaled."

"What about the other guy?"

"I think she had some glass in her arm and that was it."

"Well, I'm happy that it was nothing major. Things could have been a lot worse."

"Does anyone else know? Did you call anyone?"

"I told Jazz that you and Abby were in an accident before I left the school. Where were you going?"

He makes a small laugh and cringes again before answering. "Abby thought it would be nice to get you one of those little cakes you like from the bakery. So we decided to make a date and get some hot chocolate and a cake for you. We didn't make it though. I'm sorry." he frowns.

"It's ok. It's the thought that counts. Maybe we can go when the roads get nicer and you and Abby feel better."

"It's a date." he smiles weakly. "You should go see her. She's probably freaking out with all the doctors and us not being with her."

"Yeah, I should. I love you." I give him a light kiss.

"I love you, too."

"I'll be back in a little bit." I walk out to go see if Dr. Jordan is done seeing his other patient.

He's just coming out of the room that he went to and sees me. "Ready to go see your daughter, Bella?"

"Yes, please."

We take the elevator down a floor and he takes me to one of the first rooms we pass. Both of us go into the room and I go to Abby's side as soon as I see her. She's asleep, and I wouldn't blame her. I'm sure that it's been a long day for her. I see the red bracelet on her little wrist for an allergy alert. I take a seat by her and move her hair out of her face. I can see her little pointer finger is laying on her stomach and it's purple and swollen. Dr. Jordan places the X-rays on the light board and points to a spot on it. "Yup, her left index finger is definitely broken. It's clean, so surgery won't be necessary. We'll get her a cast for a few weeks and she should be fine."

"Will either of them be discharged tonight?"

"Abigail can be discharged as soon as she wakes up and we get her a cast. Edward will need to stay overnight at least for tonight. We'll see how he is this time tomorrow."

"Alright. And it's not a sure thing that she will go through PTSD, right?"

"No, we can't tell you for sure. You'll probably have to figure that out on your own. She might have nightmares or flashbacks. She could even develop a fear of cars. It just depends on how she takes it."

Oh boy. Let's hope she doesn't go through PTSD. I don't think I want to lose sleep because of her and the baby. And she doesn't need to go through it. It's a terrible thing. "How long will recovery be for Edward's ribs?"

"One to two months for a full recovery. He needs to take it easy for a while. No heavy lifting. I know that he works here and has a fairly easy job, but he needs to take at least a month off for recovery. It's going to be a painful few weeks for him and he needs to be as comfortable as possible."

"Well, wish me luck on that. He's always moving."


	21. Chapter 21

Dr. Jordan leaves and I decide to stay in Abby's room in case she wakes up. I sit in the chair and look around the room. The walls are a boring white and the TV plays softly on some children's show that I don't recognize. I sit in the chair for a while and to be honest, my thoughts are so distracted that I start to forget the whole reason I'm here. A fluttering in my stomach reminds me of my other child in the bed by my side.

I look over at her. Her finger is still purple and swollen. She has a few minor cuts on her neck and I see her stomach move up and down as she takes breaths in her sleep. I look away, but then turn back when I see her eyes flutter open. She looks around the room, as if she doesn't remember why she's here. Then a look of realization settles on her face as she remembers. She takes a glance in my direction and blinks a few times to make sure she's seeing right.

"Mommy?" she asks.

"I'm right here, baby."

"Am I still at the hospital?"

"Yes, you are. You get to come home tonight, though." I say to give her some hope.

"What about daddy? Where is he?"

"He's upstairs. Daddy has to stay at the hospital tonight so that the doctors can make sure he's ok."

"My finger hurts." she frowns and looks at it. "Why is it purple?"

"Because it's broken."

"I broke my finger? Does it still work?"

"Yes, it still works." I laugh a little. "Well, not right now. But it will in a few weeks. You have to get a cast for it so that it can get fixed."

"Oh. Can we see daddy?"

"No. You can't get out of this bed. I need to tell the doctor that you're awake. I'll be right back."

I leave before she can protest. I know that she'll try to convince me to stay with her in the room and then wait until the doctor comes in, and who knows when that could be. I walk to the nurses' station and see a young woman sitting on the computer. "Miss."

"Yes?" she looks up.

"My daughter in room 504 is awake. Is Dr. Jordan available?"

"Dr. Jordan doesn't work on this floor. Dr. Bennett is her doctor. There she is now." She points her head in the direction that the doctor is coming.

Dr. Bennett comes to the nurses' station and drops off a file. She comes out in my direction. "Dr. Bennett." I say and she turns to me. "Hi, my name is Bella Cullen. Abigail in 504 is my daughter. She's awake now."

"Nice to meet you, Bella. I was just heading to her room, as a matter of fact. We can go ahead and get her a cast and you can be on your way, then." We walk into the room. Abby's eyes are glued to the TV until she notices us walking in. "Hello, Abby. Did you have a nice nap?" She asks her.

"I guess." Abby replies simply.

"We're going to put a cast on your finger."

"Will it hurt?"

"No, not at all. It will help your finger feel better. Then you can go home."

I smile at her and she returns a small one in response. Abby and I follow Dr. Bennett down the hall and to the left where we meet a man who gets her cast ready for her and make sure it fits right. Abby says that it looks and feels funny and she doesn't want to wear it. When I remind her that it will make her finger feel better, she stops complaining about it.

After we get that done the doctor comes in to give me Abby's discharge papers. She tells me that Abby has to wear the cast for four weeks, as well as a few other things and then sends us home. When we get in the elevator, Abby asks, "Can we go see daddy?"

I think of a quick response. "No. Daddy is asleep and he needs his rest." I tell her. While this may be true, I don't want to tell her exactly what happened to him. Telling her the least amount of information is good enough. I don't want her to see him in the condition he's in and I'm sure that he doesn't want her to see him either.

Abby says that she's hungry not long after we're on the way home. I decide to make something small and easy for her, knowing that she may be hungry, but probably not up for something big. And it's only the two of us for the night, so I don't want to make a whole lot.

"Lucky, no. Down." I scold him. He tries to jump on me and I know that he'll want to jump on Abby when he sees her so I quickly put him out of the back door before Abby comes in.

I star dinner while Abby watches TV in the living room. I peek my head in every few minutes to check on her and the whole time she has her eyes on the TV with no real expression on her face. I stir the macaroni and put the hotdogs in the boiling water.

I let her eat on the couch, something that is never allowed but I let her today just because of the day she's had. She asks me again why Edward isn't coming home tonight and I just say that he hit his head and the doctor has to look at it tonight to make sure he's ok. She seems content with the answer for now and goes back to eating and watching TV.

She gets a quick bath to clean up and goes to bed a little early. I call my boss to tell him that I won't be coming in tomorrow and tell him what happened. He understands and says that he'll get a sub for me.


	22. Chapter 22

I find it so difficult to fall asleep. I don't know if it's because of Edward being in the hospital or because I'm six months pregnant, but I can't fall asleep at it's almost 1:30. When I called Esme and Carlisle about what happened, Esme offered to take Abby tomorrow and asks if she wants Abby to stay there for the night so that I could go to the hospital with Edward. Hopefully he can come home. I took Esme's offer and told her that we would be there after Abby was up and ready. I don't want to rush her with getting ready and I wouldn't be surprised if she sleeps in.

I think I fall asleep around two, but of course my alarm clock goes off at 5:45. I hit the off button and sleep for another two hours before my body wakes me up. I shower and head downstairs to let the dog out and sip on a cup of decaf while going through yesterday's mail. A few minutes later I hear the pitter-patter of Abby's feet walking into the kitchen with her pink blanket in her arms. She very carefully climbs onto the bar stool, being careful of her finger.

"How does your finger feel, Abby?"

"It still hurts. I don't like this thing." She references to the cast.

"I know, honey. It might hurt for a while, but you have to wear the cast. It will make your finger better. It's only for a few weeks."

"Why did that lady hit daddy's car with her car?" she asks.

"It wasn't daddy's fault and it wasn't that lady's fault either. The roads are still slippery front the ice and her car slid through the stop sign. She couldn't control it and neither could daddy."

"When is daddy coming home?"

"Maybe today. You're going to nana and grandpa's house today and have a sleepover today," I say. "Are you hungry?"

"Um, can I have a granola bar and milk?" I go over to the other side of the kitchen and pull out a homemade granola bar from the container. I set it on a napkin and give it to her with some milk. "Why am I going to nana and grandpa's house?"

I also take a granola bar and some milk for myself. I stand across from Abby and take a bite before answering her. "Daddy might come home tonight, but I'm not sure yet. Daddy is in a lot of pain from the accident. So if daddy comes home tonight, then I can take care of him. And you get to spend some time with nana and grandpa because you haven't seen them in a while. Aren't you happy about that?"

She says, "Yes, but I really want to see daddy."

"I know. But daddy hurts."

I let Abby hang out for a while so that I can get a few things done around the house and pack her a bag for the night. She plays with the dog for a little and it's nice to see her laugh, even if it is only for a second. I know that she wants to see Edward, but she doesn't need to see him laying in a hospital bed in so much pain.

We leave the house around 10:30. Abby and I walk into Carlisle and Esme's house. Esme comes out of the kitchen when she sees us and greets me with a kiss on the cheek and Abby with the same. "Hello, darling."

"Hi, nana. Look at my finger." Abby all but shoves her finger in Esme's face.

"Ouch, Abby. That looks like it hurt."

"Yeah, it did a lot. My finger was purple." She said with amazement.

"Oh my goodness. Abby, I want to talk to your mom. Grandpa is in his office and I bet he wants to see you."

"Ok," she says enthusiastically and runs upstairs.

Esme and I watch as her small legs take her down the hall and to the left, where the office is. Esme nods her head to the kitchen and I follow her. She offers me something to drink. She hands me a glass of water and says, "Bella, you know that Edward isn't going to want to call off work. Especially since you've got the baby coming soon."

"I know," I sigh. "He's going to have to. And I know that he's going to try to do things for me, but he can't do that with four broken ribs. It's just not possible. He has to call off work if he wants to get better and take it easy for a while. That's what worries me with Abby. She's four and she loves to do things with Edward, but she isn't going to really be hanging on him like she usually does."

"Does she know how hurt he is?"

"No, I just told her that he hit his head and had to stay at the hospital so the doctors could make sure he's ok. I didn't want to go into details about it because I don't know enough about that stuff and she can't understand it either. She just thinks that he's in pain and needs his rest."

"Well, you know she's going to see him in pain for a while."

"I know. I just don't want her at home tonight while he's getting adjusted at home. I hate to keep her from him, but I think it's best for both of them. Plus taking care of him and her would just be too much for the first night."

"Well, Bella, you know that if you ever need anything to call us. We'll do whatever you need."

"Thanks, Esme." I give her a weak smile.

"How's the baby?"

I look down at my belly. "She's active. She's been kicking lately. This pregnancy is easier than it was with Abby."

"That's always a good thing."

"Yeah. I better get to the hospital." I stand up and start heading for the door.

Carlisle and Abby come out of the office. "Hello, Bella." Carlisle greets.

"Hi," I respond. "Abby, I'm going to leave now. I love you."

"Love you, mommy." She gives me a hug and a kiss before walking out of the room. Esme and Carlisle both give me a very stern be careful before I head to the hospital.

Edward is awake, but he looks tired when I walk into his room. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"No. They had to keep waking me up because of the concussion and it's too painful to sleep."

"Do you get to come home today?"

"They said unless something goes wrong, then I get to go home. Where is Abby?"

"She's with your parents. She's going to stay there tonight so that you can get settled in at home."

"Thank you. I don't want her to see me like this."

"I know. That's why I did it. I didn't think that you would want her to see you like this, anyway."

"No, I don't want her to. She will eventually, but I want to at least try to get comfortable at home before she comes crashing through that door."

"That's what I thought. The doctor said that you have to take at least four weeks off of work. No heavy lifting. Nothing too strenuous."

"I hate missing work. Especially with the baby coming in a few months."

"I know. Don't shoot the messenger."

Around 4 o' clock, Edward gets discharged and we head home. I have a feeling that it's going to be a long night.


	23. Chapter 23

Before we left the hospital, I called Emmett. There is no way I can help Edward inside and I know that he's in too much pain to be able to do it completely on his own. Emmett is waiting in the driveway when we pull up. I see the heads of the girls in the car and Broden's car seat. "Where's Rose?" I ask when I get out.

"Working late at the office."

"You're welcome to stay for dinner. I was just going to get a pizza."

"No, I don't want the kids to be in the way."

"Emmett, they're fine. Edward will be in the guest room. They won't be in the way at all."

"Ok, we'll stay then. I'll get him," he points to Edward. "If you get my kids." I nod in agreement. Emmett walks over to the passenger side of my car, opens the door and says, "Let's go, little bro."

I open the front door and wait as Emmett helps Edward walk slowly into the house and takes him through the kitchen to the guest room. It's just going to be so much easier and comfortable for all of us if he stays downstairs. I take Broden's seat out of the car and usher the girls inside and out of the cold once I see that the boys are ok. I set Broden's seat on the living room floor with him sleeping in it and tell Emmalie and Paige that they can go upstairs to play with Abby's toys.

Emmett comes into the kitchen as I hang up the phone with the pizza place. "Is he ok now?"

"As ok as he can be." Emmett says. "After he said a few choice words to me. Where are my kids?"

"Broden is in the living room. The girls are upstairs. Thanks for your help, Emmett. I don't know what I would do if you weren't his brother."

"No problem, Bella. We're always here if you need anything. How is Abby doing with all of this? Does she even understand what happened?"

"She's ok for now at least. I had to explain to her on why they were hit, but that's all she has asked about it. She is more focused on seeing Edward. That's all she asked me about yesterday and this morning. I think she just doesn't understand that he's in much worse condition than she is."

"That's reasonable. She's young and her injuries are minor compared to his, and that's all she knows. Are you going to be ok with taking care of both of them by yourself? I mean, Edward can hardly walk by himself."

"I should be fine. Abby is the easy one to take care of right now. I just wanted her at your parent's house tonight so that Edward can get comfortable as much as he can before she comes. He didn't want her to see him today in the hospital because of how he looked. But, onto lighter topics. Is Collins coming back to play soon? People keep asking me at work." I ask about UW's basketball player. Emmett is one of the athletic trainers there.

"It'll be at least two weeks, I think. Maybe less." The doorbell rings and both of us get up to answer. "I got it, Bella."

"Here's the money, then." I try to hand the cash over.

"No, I can get it." he insists.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, really."

He goes to the front door to get the pizza then calls the girls down while I get plates and napkins out. I grab drinks and Emmett gets plates for the girls ready. I take a plate in for Edward, but he's asleep so I just keep it for myself and join Emmett and the girls to eat. After dinner and he gives Broden his, they head out.

"Thanks for dinner, Bell." He says after locking Broden's seat in and making sure the girls have their belts on.

"No. Thank you for helping him get in. I seriously couldn't have done it without you."

Emmett gives me a kiss on the cheek and leaves. I go into the house and take a shower. It's been a long couple of days and the hot water seems to help with relieving the tenseness in my shoulders. Edward is still asleep when I go downstairs and I figure that he'll probably stay that way at least for a while. I try to think of something normal to do. There isn't enough dirty clothes to wash, so that's out. The dishes are done. I could vacuum, but I don't want to wake Edward up with the noise. Lucky has food and water and I just let him in. It's really quiet in the house with Edward sleeping and Abby gone. I don't think I like it.

In my rush to leave for the hospital yesterday, I didn't grab any papers to grade so I can't do that. Then I hear, "Bella." Edward's voice sounds weak.

"Yeah?" I walk in.

"What's for dinner? I'm hungry." he says with a little smile.

"There's leftover pizza. Emmett and the kids stayed for dinner. Do you want that? Or I can make you something else."

"No, pizza is fine."

I get the pizza and start walking back to the room, but I hear, "Can I have some water, too?"

I turn back around to get it and take everything to him, including his medicine that the doctor gave him. "Am I going to have to hook the baby monitor up already for you?" I joke. "You're awfully needy."

He tries to laugh, but stops in pain. "Don't make me laugh."

"Here." I hand him the plate and set the glass on the bedside table. "Do you want anything else? Here's your pill."

"Thanks, babe. Are you tired or something?"

"No, why?"

"It's only 8:30 and you're already showered and ready for bed."

"There was nothing better to do. It's too quiet with Abby gone and you in here sleeping. I was bored."

"Bella, I'm sorry that this happened."

"No," I sit on a chair beside him. "Don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault. It could've happened to anyone." I reason.

"I know it could have. But that doesn't change things. I'm supposed to take care of you, not the other way around. Not when you're six months pregnant."

"Don't guilt yourself out. It's not going to help anything. Nothing was your fault and I am just fine with taking care of you. If I need help with something, then I can call Emmett. Abby can help with some stuff around the house. I'll be fine, Edward. It's only for a couple of months. And you know you're going to have to take at least a month off work."

"I know. I don't want to. Not since the baby is going to be coming soon after I can go back and you're going to be taking off for the rest of the school year then."

"I know. But we'll be fine. We make for than enough money to get us through. We'll be fine. I promise."

He takes a sip of his water to finish the glass off with the pill. "I'm going back as soon as I get clearance."

"I wouldn't expect anything less of you." I say. "That pill is going to make you tired, so I'll let you get back to sleep. Just yell if you need something. I love you." I kiss his lips.

"I love you, too." he returns the kiss and yawns, his eyes already starting to droop.

I put the plate and glass in the sink and head to bed, not knowing when I'll be up in the morning if he needs something. I guess today wasn't as bad as what I thought it would be, but still I know that it's best Abby wasn't here while he's still trying to get comfortable and adjusted. Hopefully she'll be ok when she comes home tomorrow and she'll stay out of his hair some with helping me do things around the house. Teach her some responsibility while he recovers.


	24. Chapter 24

As I walk downstairs the next morning, I hear a door open and slow footsteps coming towards the kitchen. It's a while before he gets into the kitchen. I have enough time to get a bowl of cereal and start eating it before he shows up in the doorway.

"Morning, Bella." Edward says and sits next to me.

"Morning. What are you doing up? You're supposed to laying down."

"I had to go to the bathroom. And I'm hungry."

"What can I get you?"

"Eggs?" he asks.

I make the eggs with a disgusted face. Edward knows that they disgust me and he finds it funny. When I was pregnant with Abby, I ate eggs a lot. I loved them. Now with this one, I can't stand even the thought of eggs. There's just something about them, and I don't know what, but I just can't get myself to eat them.

"Orange juice?" I ask.

"You know me so well."

"Well, we have been married for almost six years. And together even longer than that. I think it's kind of necessary to know that you always drink orange juice in the morning."

"True." he says as I hand him the plate and fork.

"Did the pills help?"

"They definitely put me to sleep, if that's what you're asking. I don't know so much about the pain because I crashed so fast after taking them. But they hurt just as much as yesterday." He has to take short breaks in between every few words because it's hard for him to breath, but eventually he gets it out.

"I know. It's only for a couple of weeks, though. Then things will be back to normal, except we'll have two little girls in the house." I smile.

"Yeah, we will, huh? Speaking of, when is Abby coming home?"

"I don't know. I didn't get the chance to ask. But I want you in bed before she does get home."

"I should be the one telling you to be in bed. You're six months pregnant."

"But I can walk at a normal pace and not be in so much pain. Give me a few weeks and I'll be waddling around the house, not even able to look at my toes."

He finishes the eggs a few minutes later and I watch as he carefully gets into bed. "How is she taking all of this?" he asks.

I move closer to him. "She's ok right now, I think. She misses you, is all. She wants to see you." "That's it? She's not freaking out or anything? No PTSD or anything?"

"No, not yet, at least. But that can take a while to surface, right?"

"Yeah, if she does go through it, it could take up to six months. But, with her, I wouldn't be surprised if it came up sooner than that if she even does go through it."

"Well, then we'll just have to wait and see if she does go through it. I hope she doesn't, but you never know. I'm going to call your mom to see when we should expect her. Do you need anything else?"

"Kiss?" I lean over and kiss his lips. "I think I'm good now."

I leave the room to let him rest some more and get comfortable. I call to see when Abby is coming home. Carlisle answers saying that Esme is at work, but he'll drop Abby off around three, before he has to go to work. I talk to her for a few minutes before telling her that I have to go. I feed the dog and let him out. I call the school to tell them that hopefully I will be back on Monday. Hopefully after this weekend I will feel ok about leaving Edward here and not having to worry about him doing anything that he isn't supposed to. Good luck with that, I guess. I'm sure that he'll find something to do that he shouldn't.

I go upstairs to see if Emmalie and Paige cleaned Abby's room up yesterday before they left. They didn't, but I guess Emmett didn't really enforce it because they came down to eat and then left almost right after. That gives me something to do for a few minutes as I put all of the toys away that they got out. I come across a pink doll that Edward and I gave her for her first birthday. I can't believe that she's going to be five in July and then starting kindergarten this year. Plus, we have the baby on the way and I just can't believe how fast time has gone by. I tear up a little just thinking about it. Stupid pregnancy hormones, I think as I put the doll away.

I go downstairs to get something to drink. I go to get the milk out of the fridge, but there isn't enough for even a glass. "I guess I'll drink water, then." I say to myself. I go to make something for lunch, but there's no bread either. I try to think back to the last time we went to the store, but nothing comes to mind. I look at the clock and decide to go since I have time.

"Are you going to be ok if I run to the store quickly? I'll make sure I'm home before Abby and your dad get here." I ask Edward just to make sure.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Can you bring the laptop in, though. I am thoroughly bored."

I bring the computer in and leave for the store. I very carefully navigate the roads, being cautious of what's out there and who's out there. I go as fast as I can through the store, getting the things we need. The store is crazy, though, and I wonder why. I see a display of chips and salsa and then I remember that the Superbowl is tomorrow. Great, I wonder how long the lines are going to be to check out.

After just standing in line for a half hour, I finally get out and load the car and go home. I bring all of the bags in and start putting them away. I only have fifteen minutes until Abby comes home.

"You were gone a long time." Edward comes up behind me.

"It was insane. The Superbowl is tomorrow."

"Oh, right. I was supposed to go to Alice and Jasper's house tomorrow for that." he frowns.

"Ask if he can come here. It'll be easier for you. You can lay on the couch then and watch it."

"Yeah, I'll talk to him later. I'll see if Emmett can come here, instead, too."

There's a knock on the door. To the best of his ability, Edward tries to yell, "Come in." But he stops when he has trouble getting the air out to do it.

"I'll get the door. You sit on the couch or something." I say and go to let Abby and Carlisle in.

Abby comes in the door and doesn't even think about taking her coat and shoes off before trying to run upstairs. I grab hold of her hood and say, "He isn't up there. And you need to take your coat and shoes off first." Carlisle just laughs at her enthusiasm to see her father.

"Oh. I forgot." she says and sits down to take her boots off. "Now can I see daddy?" she asks. Carlisle says a quick goodbye so that he can leave for work.

"Abby, I need you to listen carefully. Daddy is in the living room, but you can't be jumping on him. You have to be very careful with daddy for a while, ok?"

"Ok. Can I see him now?"

"Yeah. Come on." I lead her into the living room. Edward puts the remote down when he hears us come in.

"Hi, Abby." he says.

"Hi, daddy. Do you still hurt?" she asks with a concerned voice.

"Yeah, I still hurt." He doesn't lie. "But I'll be ok in a few weeks. It's not for forever, I promise."

"That's good. I drew you a picture!" She holds up a picture and looks at me as if she's asking if she can give it to him. I nod my head and she walks over, trying not to even make any physical contact with him.

"That's beautiful, Abby. Thank you." I know that he wants to give her a hug or something, but he can't, so he just settles with a smile and says, "I love you very much."

"I love you, too, daddy." And she blows him a kiss that he catches.


	25. Chapter 25

"Mommy, will daddy ever get better?" Abby asks while she pushes a toy around the tub.

"Of course. It will just take a while, but he'll be better soon." I say.

"Oh. Why can't I play with him? He doesn't have a cast like I do."

"Because he hurt his bones right here." I point to my ribs. "The doctors can't put a cast on those bones like they did on your finger."

"I don't like it. I want to play with daddy."

"I know. Daddy wants to play with you, too. But it hurts too bad. Give him a few weeks and he'll be back to normal."

Abby gets out of the tub and dresses herself in her pajamas. "Go say goodnight to daddy." I say and she runs downstairs and comes back up not long after.

"He's asleep." She frowns.

"Oh, well you'll see him in the morning. Get in your bed."

She climbs into bed and I give her a goodnight kiss. I turn the light out and close the door behind me. I make sure that Edward is sleeping and it doesn't surprise me when I find him sleeping soundly. Those pills that the doctor gave him knock him out quickly. That's a good thing, though because he can sleep and not focus on the pain.

I have a text message from Alice when I look at my phone. _I guess the party is moving to your house tomorrow? _She asks.

_Yeah. Edward really wanted to watch the game with Jazz and Em. I figured it would be easier if they came here instead._

_ Good idea! I have a ton of work to do tomorrow and it will be nice not to have screaming boys in my house while I'm trying to get things done._

_ Ha ha. Thanks. No problem._

I finish the dishes and put laundry away. I don't realize how late it is until I yawn and look at the clock. Kick off tomorrow is at 3:30 and, knowing I'll have Edward, Emmett and Jasper in my house for a football game, I'll have to be up to get things ready for the game. I'm glad that Alice and Rose said they would send food over with the boys so I don't have to go to the store again. All I have to worry about is the chili, but that will be easy and we already have everything for it.

I go to bed alone again tonight. I wish that Edward could be with me, but we both know that's not possible with his condition. I guess I'll have to get used to sleeping alone for a few weeks. It's going to be a long couple of weeks.

I wake up when the bed shifts a little. I open my eyes and see Abby standing over me. "Hi, mommy. Daddy wants something to eat."

I sit up and rub my eyes. "Ok. I'll be down in a second." I say. She runs out of the room.

I go downstairs and ask him what he wants. He tells me that he only wants some toast, so I make it and get a glass of juice for him. Abby takes a bowl of cereal and eats it on the floor in the bedroom with Edward. I get started on the chili, then take a quick shower and get ready. Edward eventually gets into the shower and I tell him to be careful and yell if he needs anything. He never says anything, so I assume that he's ok. I pick Abby's clothes out and ask her to get dressed and brush her teeth. She does, then brings her hair brush down for me to brush and braid it.

Edward goes straight to the couch after he gets dressed. He asks if I need help with anything, but I tell him no, of course. There's nothing left to do and it's not like the normal things are really easy for him to do anyway. He turns the TV onto some pregame show and watches it for a while.

Jasper is the first to show up. Alice isn't with him because she's at home working. I take the dish that Alice sent with him and put it in the kitchen. Emmett, Rose and the kids show up next.

"The party can start. I have the beer." Emmett shouts. Rose just shakes her head and rolls her eyes at her husband.

With just a few minutes until the game, the boys start getting food. I hand Edward his. "Thanks, babe." He strains his neck up. I kiss him.

"No problem." I smile and walk back into the kitchen. "Rose, I have hotdogs on for the little ones because I know my child will not eat chili."

"Ok. Great." She replies while getting the girls situated at the table.

I get Abby's plate ready while Rose gets the plates for her girls ready. When they're taken care of, Rose and I join the boys in the living room. "If you boys, and I'm talking to Emmett and Jasper since you're the only boys in this room that can move, if you get any food stains on my carpet like last year, you're going to see the wrath of an angry pregnant woman. I don't want to replace it again." I warn them, taking a seat on a chair. Rose makes a small laugh.

Last year Edward, Jasper, Emmett and Carlisle got so excited about what was going on that they all jumped up, flinging food everywhere. It wasn't even worth it to try to clean the carpet, so we had to replace it. Boys and their football. I take a seat and eat as I watch the game.

The girls finish eating and run upstairs to play. Rosalie helps me clean up their mess quickly before we go back to the game. Rose leaves the room for a few minutes later to change Broden and get a bottle ready for him. She comes back into the room to feed him.

The Steelers and the Packers are playing. Of course, we're rooting for the Packers. Edward and the rest of the family hates the Steelers for some reason. I really don't know why, but I just go with the flow, I guess. The Packers score a touchdown, Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie cheer excitedly. Edward only smiles and says a weak, "Yay." I know that he's more excited than that, but he doesn't want to cause himself more pain by getting too excited. Good, I'm glad that, even with the game going on, he can contain himself.

During half time, we all make conversation. Edward looks like he's in pain and I ask him if he wants a pill. "No, I want to watch the game. The pill will put me to sleep."

"You sure? I don't want you to be in pain just so you can watch the game."

"I'm fine right now. Maybe after the game when everyone goes home." He says.

Eventually, the Steelers end up winning the game, putting everyone in a bad mood. "I hate the Steelers." Emmett grumbles. Jasper and Edward both agree with him. After another hour of chatter, Rosalie and Emmett head out to put the kids to bed. It's getting late and I realize that Abby should probably be getting to bed, too.

Jasper leaves after Emmett, Rose and the kids. Abby says goodnight and gives Edward a goodnight kiss on the cheek before I send her upstairs to get ready for bed. I go up with her to tuck her in and Edward makes his way back into the guest room. I shut her light off and tell her goodnight. I run back downstairs to give Edward his pain pills and he's knocked out pretty quickly. What's left of the mess from today gets cleaned up and then I go to bed, knowing that Edward and Abby are out for the night and that the house is clean.


	26. Chapter 26

A little over a month has gone by since the accident and to say that Edward is getting restless would be an understatement. It has been a really long month. For a month, he's laid in bed for most of the day without doing much else. This past week has been better. He's been up more and even working in the office a little bit. It's good that he gets some normalcy back in his routine. He's done a few other little things around the house. He folded laundry yesterday and put some of it away. I guess that means that he's ok with moving up and down the stairs now, at least a little bit.

I'm about 34 weeks into my pregnancy now, and Edward and I both have doctors' appointments after I get off of work. Only a few more weeks and then I'll be off until next school year. After gathering the final papers that my students wrote so that I can hopefully start grading them soon and have them done before the school year is up. It will be a long process, but I'll be home for a while to get them done. I run by the house to pick Edward up and head off to his appointment first.

Edward breaths a heavy and disappointed sigh when the doctor tells him to stay home for two more weeks. He wants to get back to work and he expresses that in the car after my appointment. "I want to go back to work. It's not like I hardly do any moving." he complains.

"Edward, your ribs aren't healed completely yet. Even with the light moving and lifting, you could still hurt yourself. You about died yesterday when the dog ran into you. If you're running around a busy hospital, then there's a bigger chance of you running into something and hurting yourself more. It's only two more weeks."

"I know. But I want to get back to work and get better before the baby comes. You only have six more weeks, Bella. I'm not going to let you take care of that baby all by yourself."

"I know. You'll be fine. Just give it a couple more weeks and then you can get back to work and helping with the kids."

We pull up to Courtney's house and I go in to get Abby. I help her with her seat belt and she tells us all about what she did today. She asks when she can get her cast off of her finger like she does just about every other day. And every time, she gets the same answer: in a couple of weeks.

She runs into the house before Edward and I and goes straight in to play with the dog. Edward takes a seat at the bar and I grab a glass of water. I look at the time and realize that I should start on dinner. I start on the tuna casserole, although Abby thinks it's chicken. "Tuna is gross. Fish live in the water and we don't eat things that live in the water, mommy." She would say. It's ok to lit to kids, right? If it gets her to eat dinner, then I think she'll be ok.

Edward gets plates and drinks out as I finish getting dinner ready. "Abigail, come eat." I shout to her and she comes running into the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" she asks.

"Chicken and noodles. And mashed potatoes and peas." Edward answers her and they sit down at the table. I follow them, carefully balancing three cups in my hand. Edward gets Abby's plate ready and I get my own.

A few minutes into dinner she asks, "Baylee was talking about going to school next year. Do I get to go to school?"

Edward and I look at each other briefly. "Um, maybe, honey." He says. "We have to see. It depends on what they say about your allergy."

"What do you do at school? Do I get to do the stuff that mommy does at school?"

"No, Abby." I laugh. "Mommy teaches high school and you'll be in kindergarten. Kindergarten is much more fun than high school. You get to do all kinds of things that my students don't get to do like color and go to recess and go to music class. My students don't get to do that fun stuff."

"Will I like it?"

"You will love it. I promise."

To be honest, I rather enjoyed school. I was a good student that got good grades. I was never caught up in the drama that was going on. Only those brief rumors that were going around about Mike and I, but those were quickly put to rest when I pretty much told him off in front of the whole cafeteria one day. Yeah, that was a great day.

"Are Alice and Jasper still coming over tomorrow?" Edward asks.

"Yeah, I talked to Jazz today. They'll be over around 5:30. Rose said she'd be here around four to get her."

"Aunt Ali is coming over?" Abby pipes up.

"Yup, and uncle Jasper. We invited them over for dinner since we haven't seen them in a while." Alice has been so busy with work lately that we haven't seen her at all since the game last month. I see Jasper just about everyday, but I haven't seen Alice in a while and we want to see them before the baby comes. "But you're going to stay with uncle Emmett and aunt Rosalie tomorrow. You are going to have a sleepover with Emmalie and Paige."

"Oh. Yay!" she exclaims. I figured she would be happy about that. Tomorrow is adult night and it's much needed. And it might be one of the last times Edward and I get out before the baby comes.

Abby runs off to her room after dinner while Edward and I clean up dinner. I make her get a bath and brush her teeth. Edward and I tuck her in at bedtime. I decide that I should get started on grading those papers now. I take the first one from the stack and then find the rough draft and compare them. I go through, and make sure that the person corrected all of his mistakes. This was a good paper, and I'm really surprised just because I know that the student is a bit of a slacker. Good, maybe this paper has caused him to want to get better grades. I grade one more and then I decide to go to bed.

"Are you going to bed, babe?" Edward asks from the couch.

"Yeah."

"I'll come with you."

"Are you sleeping upstairs tonight?" I ask. He hasn't since the accident.

"Yeah. I feel fine. If you're comfortable with that."

"Why wouldn't I be comfortable with that?"

"Because your 34 weeks pregnant."

"Oh. Come to bed. I've missed you." We head up to bed and finally, after over a month, I get to sleep in the same bed with my husband.


	27. Chapter 27

**Edward POV**

Neither of us got a good night's sleep. Bella was tossing and turning all night trying to get comfortable and that wasn't helping me at all. Eventually I ended up going back downstairs because I knew that it was best for both of us. I'm praying that I get better in the next couple of weeks to be able to not only get back to work, but also to help out when the baby comes. Bella's going to need help taking care of a baby and Abby. There is no way I'm letting myself sit back and not help her.

Bella comes into the kitchen looking tired, and I don't doubt that she didn't ever really get into a deep sleep. She yawns as she gets some breakfast and sits down at the table beside me.

"Good morning." I say.

"Morning," she yawns again. "Did you come down here last night?"

"Yeah. I could tell that you weren't comfortable and neither was I. I thought it would be best."

She frowns slightly. "I hope this doesn't last long. I miss you. I miss the intimacy."

"I know. Me, too."

Abby comes down, her happy self, and asks for some breakfast. Bella starts to get up, but I stop her and get what Abby wants. Bella finishes her food and goes upstairs to get ready for school. Thankfully it's Friday and she can rest tomorrow. We're going out with Alice and Jasper tonight, which will also be good because we haven't really done much since the accident. Bella and I are both getting restless and want to do things. But it isn't exactly easy with healing ribs and pregnancy. She her goodbyes to Abby and I and leaves, still looking a little tired. Abby stays with me for the day since I'm feeling well enough to keep her. It has allowed us some much needed father-daughter bonding time and she seems happy about it.

She finishes her breakfast and goes up to get dressed with the outfit that Bella laid out earlier. She brushes her teeth and hair, but I have to redo it because she doesn't do a very good job at it. I walk pass her room to go to mine and Bella's the door is open and I take a quick glance in. I don't think I have ever seen it that messy. "Abigail Anne, come here, please." I yell to her.

She comes up the steps and over to my side. "What, daddy?"

"Look at this mess." I point to her room. "You aren't going to see Emmalie and Paige if it doesn't get cleaned up."

"It is clean." She says.

I raise an eyebrow at her. She looks guilty, like she's been caught doing something she isn't supposed to. "Then why do I see a bunch of toys and clothes everywhere?"

She looks in again. "Oh, I didn't see those." She goes in and starts cleaning.

"That's what I thought." I say and go into mine and Bella's room. I take a shower, which has definitely gotten easier in the past few weeks and doesn't hurt so bad. I just have to make it two more weeks and things can get back to normal. I can go back to work for a little bit before the baby comes.

Crazy as it may sound, I miss work. It might seem little odd, but I miss getting to see my patients and helping them with their problems. Maybe I got that from dad. He always wants to help people and I am the same way. That's why I chose to become a psychologist and despite the hard times, I've never had a doubt in my mind that that's what I want to do with the rest of my life.

Bella gets home from work and packs Abby's bag for the night. I would have done it, but that would've been a disaster. That is why I love my wife. She's good with the packing and making sure everything is in order, and I'm no good with that. Rosalie picks Abby up and not long after, Alice and Jasper walk in the door.

We pile into Bella's car and go out to dinner. Alice isn't her normal self. She isn't very lively and talkative tonight. She only talks when talked to and even then, it's short and simple replies. Her eyes seem to wander off every once in a while and I just can't recognize my sister today. Jasper seems normal for the most part, but he looks over at Alice sometimes with a slight look of worry or concern. We invite them to stay at the house for a while. It seems that Jasper has to convince Alice to come, and she agrees, but doesn't exactly look thrilled about it. Maybe it's just the pregnancy hormones, I think, because this is definitely not the Alice that I know and love. Bella notices, too. She whispers in my ear on the way to the car that she wants to talk to Alice when we get back home. She's just as worried as I am about her non-characteristic behavior tonight.

We get back to the house and Bella asks Alice if she'll go upstairs with her for something. I offer Jasper a beer and we go out on the back porch to talk. "What's up with Alice tonight? She doesn't seem like her usual self." I start.

He waits a few seconds before answering. "She lost the baby." he says in a solemn tone. Now I understand why she was so calm tonight.

"Oh. I'm sorry," is the only thing I can think of to say.

"She woke up the other night night with stomach cramps and bleeding. I took her to the ER and they confirmed it. She hasn't been the same since."

"That's understandable. She lost a child. She's going to hurt for a while and so will you."

"I know, but I hate seeing her like this. This isn't the Alice I married. Alice is always the one trying to find something positive in everything, but this doesn't seem to be one of them."

"Do you know what happened?"

"We don't know. The doctor said that one of us could have infertility issues since it took us so long to conceive, and then it ends in miscarriage. He told us that we could get some testing done if we want, but I want to let Alice recover from this before we do anything. She was really excited about this baby and I'm just worried that she isn't going to bounce back soon."

I lay a hand on his shoulder and he looks at me. "Jasper, you've known Alice for five years, but I grew up with her. If there is anything I know about her, it's that she'll come back eventually. With the little things, like a bad test score, she came back pretty quickly. But this is big for her. And she knows that you wanted this baby just as much as her. It's going to take time for her. She doesn't bounce back quickly from things like this. You just have to give her time to grieve. Be there when she needs you."

"I've tried. She won't talk to me. Yesterday, she sat in the nursery for most of the day and just cried. I tried to talk to her, but she locked me out and told me get the hell away. I have never heard her swear like she was yesterday and most definitely not talk to me like that. I just don't know what to do anymore." He takes a sip of his beer and looks down at the ground.

"Have you suggested she talk to someone?"

"I haven't thought of that. I just thought I would give her her space to grieve and she'll talk to me when she wants to. But I haven't thought about a counselor or anything. Do you think she would listen to you?"

"She might. I can try if you want me to."

"Yeah, that would be great if she does listen."

"Does anyone else know?"

"My parents and yours. She didn't want to tell anyone, but I convinced her to at least tell them. I thought they should at least know first. They were going to find out anyway. I don't know when she plans on making it public. And with her name becoming more known, people are swarming her with questions about both her professional life and her personal life. I know they're going to ask about the pregnancy and it's going to get out there at some point, but I don't want it to happen before she's ready for that."

"She's my little sister, Jazz. You better protect her."

"Don't worry. I will."


	28. Chapter 28

**Bella POV**

Alice isn't acting herself today and I don't like it. She's too calm and quiet. I don't like it and I'm sure Edward doesn't like it, either. She looks hurt or upset and every few minutes I would see Jasper look at her like he was just waiting on her to do something that was going to hurt her or something. So when we get back to the house I ask Alice if she'll come upstairs with me to help me with something.

As we go upstairs I hear the back door open and close, telling me that the boys went outside. I lead Alice to the small family room and sit on a couch. She sits next to me and brings her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees. Neither of us say anything for a few minutes. She hardly looks at me and when she does, she looks back down quickly. "Alice, what's going on? Why are you so quiet tonight?" I ask.

She finally looks up with glassy eyes and she just bursts out in tears. I don't know what to do at her sudden outburst except to wrap my arms around her in a hug. She gets tears and probably some snot all over my shirt, but I just don't care. She is obviously hurting and I want to help her. After a few minutes she pulls away and sits back. "I'm not pregnant." she says quietly.

I don't understand her at first. Yes, she is pregnant. She told us all at Christmas when she gave Jasper the socks. It hits me then that she means she isn't pregnant anymore. "What happened?"

"Jasper took me to the ER the other night because I had stomach pains and I was bleeding. The doctors don't know exactly what happened. They think that one of us might have fertility problems and that's why it took us so long to get pregnant and then this happens. They asked if we wanted to get testing done. Jasper hasn't said anything about it, so I'm not sure that he wants to. We've hardly even talked to each other since."

"You need to talk to him about this. Both of you need to discuss what is going on."

"He tries to talk to me, but I don't want to hear it. I know that he just wants to help, but he doesn't understand. I lost a part of me. That baby was supposed to stay in me for nine months and grow into a healthy human being that we were going to love and give everything that we have for it."

"Alice, I'm sure that Jasper understands. He's probably hurting, too. That baby was as much his as it was yours. We wanted that baby, too, just as much as you did. Have you talked to him at all?" I feel the pressure in my eyes and a few tears fall. Damn pregnancy hormones.

"I was trying to get my mind off of things by working on some stuff at home yesterday. Jasper came in and tried to talk to me, but I just cussed him out and went into what would be the baby's room and cried for the rest of the day. I locked myself in, but he kept banging on the door saying that he wanted to talk about it. I told him to go away and that I didn't want to hear it. I felt like a total bitch after, but I just didn't want to hear his bullshit. All he was going to do was tell me that everything is going to be ok and that we can try for another one."

"How do you know that, Alice? You didn't even let him talk to you. You have to give him a chance to say something instead of just shutting him out like this. It isn't going to help anything. I'm always here to talk. I'm sure that Edward would be the better one to talk to though, just because he deals with this kind of stuff. But really you need to talk to Jasper first. He's your husband and the one that you should be going to when things like this happen. I think that he is really concerned about you."

"I know I should. But I just don't know if I can face him without absolutely breaking down. This isn't like when grandpa died in college. He wasn't a physical part of me. He wasn't dependent on me for everything. And he was sick and old. It was expected. But I thought I was doing everything right for this baby. I took the vitamins. I only drink decaff. I gave more work to my assistant so that I'm not so stressed. I thought I was doing everything right."

"Alice," I put a hand on her shoulder. "You didn't do anything wrong. Nothing is your fault. Whatever happened, it's not your fault and it's not Jasper's, either. There is nothing either of you could've done to stop it. Get the tests done. If you really want a baby, find out what's wrong and go from there. You'll have a baby. I know you will."

"I hope so." She says. I think I might see a slight outline of a smile on her face. "I want a little girl to spoil and dress-up. I guess I can just spoil your little girl for now."

"I wouldn't expect anything less of you."

We walk downstairs and see Jasper and Edward are just coming back into the house. They leave shortly after and I really hope that Alice gives Jasper the chance to talk to her. I hate seeing them like this and if she doesn't let him say anything, it's not going to end well for them.

Edward pops a movie in and we settle on the couch. Neither of us really watch the movie because we're talking. He tells me that he and Jasper talked about the miscarriage and what Alice has been going through. "How did your talk with her go?" he asks me.

"I told her that she needs to stop shutting Jasper out and talk to him. He's upset about it just as much as she is. She doesn't think that he understands what she is going through, but that baby was just as much his as it was her's. I think he should have a pretty good idea of how she's feeling. I just don't want them to fall apart because of this."

"None of us want to see that happen. I'm sure that they'll work it out. I'll see if maybe she'll talk to me. Her and Jasper both, maybe."

"I think that would be good."


	29. Chapter 29

Two weeks pass. Only one more month until this baby comes and I can be at least a little more comfortable sleeping. Well, when I can sleep. I didn't get much sleep after Abby was born, even with Edward helping as much as he could. But that could only last so long before he had to go back to work. And it's not like he could've fed her in the middle of the night, anyway.

Unfortunately, Edward isn't going to be able to get any time off when the baby comes. Since he missed so many weeks after the accident, he can't get off. It made me mad at first, that the hospital would do this, but I guess I understand why. They aren't paying Edward to sit at home and do work. He has patients that he has to see, too.

He went back to work yesterday and he was so happy to. I don't know what he was more happy about, getting back to work or getting out of the house for more than just a couple of hours. I'm glad that he's happy about getting back. As much as I've enjoyed being home, I know that he's been wanting to get back, especially since the doctor said that he had to wait a couple more weeks.

Esme said that she would help out as much as we can. I would ask if Alice could stay for a few days after the baby is born, but I know that she's still going through all of the hurt with the miscarriage, so I don't want to put her in that position. Edward has talked to her a few times since her and Jasper told us. He says that he thinks she's starting to get back to her normal self, somewhat. The rest of the family knows now, so at least that's a step up, her telling everyone. I saw her the other day, and she seemed ok, but not completely better. She's talking a little more and making more eye contact. She told me that she opened up to Jasper after they went home that night and that seemed to help a little. I'm glad that she did. I would hate to see what would happen to them if she didn't talk to him about it.

Edward is working this evening, so it's just Abby and I for dinner. "Mommy," Abby says from across the table. "Why did daddy get a new car? Where is the silver one?"

"Because when you and daddy were in the accident, daddy's car got broken."

"Why didn't he fix it? Sometimes, he fixes my toys when they're broken."

"Daddy doesn't know how to fix cars. And the man that was going to fix it said that he couldn't. So daddy had to get a new one."

"Oh. Why couldn't the man fix his car?"

"Remember when daddy was upset that his favorite coffee cup broke? He couldn't fix it because it was in too many pieces. The car repair man couldn't fix daddy's car because it was in too many pieces when it got hit."

"Oh. I don't like his new car. It's not the same."

"You'll learn to like it, I promise. We'll have that car for a long time. And daddy needed a bigger car, anyway because we'll have your booster seat and the car seat in there for the baby soon. If you're done, you need to put your plate in the sink, please. Then go pick up your room." She gets up from the table and puts her things in the sink, then goes upstairs to her room.

I finish cleaning dinner up and put the leftovers in the fridge. My phone starts ringing from the other room and I go in to answer it. It's Jake, which is kind of weird, considering he usually doesn't call me. "Hey, Jake." I answer.

"Hi, Bells." He says in his usual cheery tone.

"What's up? I haven't talked to you in a while."

"I know. How is everyone since the accident and everything?"

"We're all fine. Edward went back to work yesterday, so he's happy and Abby was happy to get her cast off a few days ago."

"Good. I'm going to be in town tomorrow. Do you mind if I stop by?"

"Really? Yeah, you can definitely stop in. We should be home all day, so you can stop by anytime." I say. Tomorrow is Saturday and we don't have anything planned.

"Great. I have someone that I want you to meet."

"And would this person happen to be a girl?"

"Quite possibly." He laughs. "Her name is Katey."

"How long have you known Katey?"

"We met at a New Years' party. We've been dating for almost a month."

"Good. I'm glad that you're with someone." I say with complete sincerity. Jake loved me in high school, and even after. But I could never love him as more than a friend. I know it hurt him, but I couldn't envision a future with him. We grew up together, and I guess for him our relationship meant something more. But I was always in love with Edward. Jake was more like a brother or best friend to me, so now that he's found someone I can't be more happy for him.

"Thanks, Bella. Do you mind if we come over around one? Her parents live in Seattle and we're meeting them for dinner at five."

"Yeah, one sounds great, Jake."

"Alright. We'll see you then."

"Yup. Bye, Jake."

"Bye, Bella." He hangs up. I smile a little to myself. I hope Jake is happy with her. He's been in a few relationships since high school, but they were all short-term, none of them lasting more than a few months. I can't help but feel a little guilty about this sometimes because I know that he would be happy with me. Then I remember that I have Edward and I can't be any happier than I am now, especially with Abby and our little girl coming in just a few short weeks.

Abby comes down into the living room and asks if she can watch TV. I turn on her show and pretty soon she isn't watching it because she's playing with Lucky. She really does love that dog.

An hour passes and I make her change and brush her teeth. She climbs into bed and I tuck her in with a kiss in the forehead. Like any other night when Edward isn't home at bedtime, I give her two, one from me and one from him. Her eyes are closed before I even turn the light off.

I go downstairs to fold the laundry that's been sitting in a basket all day. I wasn't planning on folding it until tomorrow, but since Jake and Katey are coming over, I might as well do it now and I can put Abby's clothes away after she wakes up.

I hear Abby calling my name a while later as I sit on the couch watching TV. I look at the clock and see the time. 10:30. Why in the world is she awake? She calls for me again and I notice something off about her voice. It sounds shaky. I wobble up to her room as fast as my 8-month pregnant belly will let me and turn on the light.

She's sitting up in bed with tears streaming down her face. I wonder why she's crying. She runs up and hugs my legs. "Abby, what's wrong?" I look down at her. "Why are you crying?"

"I had a bad dream." She says in between sobs.

I walk her back to her bed and she sits by my side since she can't fit on my lap. "What was it about?"

"Me and daddy in the car crash. But daddy wouldn't wake up when I tried to wake him up."

Crap. Just when I thought she wouldn't go through PTSD and this happens. "Baby, it was just a bad dream. It wasn't real. There's nothing to worry about, I promise." Finally her sobs seem to calm down a little and she gets a ton of snot on my shirt, but I don't really care.

"Why wouldn't daddy wake up in my dream?" She asks.

I don't know how to answer that question, so I only respond with, "I don't know, Abby. But it's ok because daddy isn't going anywhere." Edward shows up in the doorway quietly with a sad look on his face. He must be thinking the same thing that I am about the PTSD. Abby finally calms down enough to fall back asleep. I walk out of the room with Edward and we go discuss it.

** AN: I'm sorry this is so late! I had people in for fall break and that mixed with writer's block just don't go together well.**


	30. Chapter 30

"Just when I thought she wasn't going to grow through this, and she has a bad dream about the accident. Edward, I don't want her to go through this. She is so young and she doesn't need to go through this." I sit down on the edge of the bed as Edward changes clothes.

"I know. I was hoping that we would get lucky and she wouldn't have to go through this, either. But she'll get through it."

"How long will this last?" I ask. I'm married to him, but I don't really know much about PTSD.

"I don't know, Bella. It's hard to tell. It could last a few weeks or longer. It could even go into remission and then reoccur. And, if it did go into remission, it could reoccur even after a few years. It's different with everyone, so I can't really tell."

"Will she develop anything else? Other than the nightmares?"

"Possibly. With the nightmares, she could have sleeping difficulties. And with the baby coming soon, that's going to be a challenge for us, too. Um, flashbacks are a possibility. Not wanting to talk about it. Not wanting to do things that she normally would want to do. Being easily frightened. She could even become afraid of cars."

"Wouldn't these things have come up earlier? The accident was almost a month and a half ago."

"It can take a few weeks for it to develop, sometimes. Again, everyone is different."

"What can we do to help her? I'm not going to sit around and watch her suffer from this."

"Therapy, of course. But I can do that at home. Bella, the best thing that we can do for her is just listen to her and love her. She might get really upset if she feels like we aren't listening to her or caring. We just need to let her talk about it with us. And if she has trouble sleeping, she's just going to be even more upset about things just from lacking good sleep. We just need to comfort her when she needs it."

"Will you counsel her?"

"If I have to, of course I will. She's our daughter and I don't want her going through this, either. And it's not going to be easy. Both of us are going to have to deal with Abby's PTSD and the baby coming in just a few weeks. I'll tell you right now that it's going to be difficult. But we can get through this. Abby is going to fine. I promise." He places a kiss on my lips and the words are reassuring as a few tears fall down my cheeks. He wipes them away with his thumb. Damn hormones. "Let's go to bed, baby. She might wake up a little shaken up tomorrow."

"Alright. Oh, and I talked to Jake today. He's going to be in town tomorrow and asked if he could stop by in the afternoon. He wants to introduce us to someone."

"Jake got a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, isn't that nice?"

"Good for him. Let's hope that this one will make him happy."

"I hope so, too."

Edward and I head off to bed and once again, it isn't the most comfortable night's sleep for me. Edward has gotten more comfortable in the past few days and has started sleeping in our bed again. I'm still not comfortable, but I don't think that it's going to matter at this point whether he sleeps with me or not.

Like Edward said, Abby comes down the stairs and curls up with me on the couch with her pink blanket, still a little shaken up from last night. She's really quiet this morning, even more quiet than usual. I turn on some cartoons for her to watch and remove some hair from her eyes. "Jake is coming over today." I tell her.

"He is?" Her face brightens up a little.

"Yup, and he's bringing a friend over. Her name is Katey."

"Is Katey nice?"

"I don't know. I haven't met Katey, but I'm sure that she is nice."

"Hello, my beautiful girls." Edward walks down from getting a shower and plants a kiss on top of both of our heads and rubs his hands briefly on my stomach. He sits on the other side of Abby and squeezes my arm in reassurance, seeing that I'm still a little worried about Abby and the nightmare she had last night. After a few more minutes Abby gets dressed and eats breakfast. She starts acting like her normal self then and I'm glad.

By the time I hear the doorbell ring, Abby is much to her to normal self, at least for now. I don't know how she'll be when she meets Katey. She doesn't typically open up to someone new right away, which isn't always a bad thing.

"Jake, it's so good to see you again!" I exclaim as I open the door and see him standing there.

"Bella, it's so good to see you, too." We hug each other briefly. "Bella, this is Katey." He points to the girl beside him. She has dark skin and light brown hair. She's beautiful in all senses and the smile she wears, I can tell is just a permanent thing.

"Hi, Katey. It's good to meet you." I invite them in and offer them a place to sit in the living room.

Abby runs out of the office after hearing them walk in, with Edward trailing behind her at a slower pace. "Uncle Jake!"

Jake turns turns around and catches her as she jumps into his arms. "Abby!" He matches her excitement. "How are you?"

"Good. Except for last night." She looks down. "I had a bad dream."

"Oh, well it was just a dream, there's nothing to worry about."

"That's what mommy said." She pushes on Jake's chest to be let down and runs off when she's on the floor.

Jake just gives me a confused look and I motion over to the couches. Jake and Katey sit on one of the seats and Edward and I take another seat. "She had a bad dream about the accident last night. We think that she might go through PTSD, after all." Edward explains.

"Oh, that's going to suck. I hope that it doesn't last long."

"Us either. But how are you, Jake? It's been a while. I see that you've found someone." I say.

"Yeah, Katey and I have been together for almost a month."

"Good. So your parents live in Seattle?" I turn my attention to her.

"Yeah, they live in Belltown."

"Do you live in La Push?"

"No, I live in Hoquim. I was in La Push for New Years' because I have a few friends that live there. My parents moved to Belltown when I was in high school after my dad got a new job."

"Alright. That sounds nice." I look at Edward and realize my stupidity. "I'm sorry, Katey. This is my husband, Edward. And the little girl that ran off somewhere is Abby."

"Hi, Edward." She says quietly. "You have a beautiful daughter. And a beautiful home." She comments.

"Thank you." I say. I can tell that she's sincere. I think Jake may have picked the right one this time. He's had a few past relationships that were just terrible from the start. Jake and Katey stay for a couple of hours before they leave to go visit her parents.

I close the door behind them as they walk back to Jake's car. "I like her. She's nice." I say to Edward.

"Yeah, I like her, too. Let's just hope that she's a good one for Jake, though."


	31. Chapter 31

Two more weeks pass and I have a doctor's appointment almost right after school on Wednesday. Friday will be my last day at work for the rest of the year, though I know I'll still have to do a ton of work at home. I pick Abby up from the sitter's and fight with her for a good ten minutes to get in the car. This has been going on almost as long as she has been having the bad dreams. She doesn't want to get in the car sometimes, saying that she doesn't like it. Edward says that she's developed this fear from the PTSD, but hopefully it won't last as long the dreams could and she should get over this quick.

"Come on, Abby. We have to go meet daddy for my appointment at the hospital and we're already running a little late." I say. Finally, she hesitantly climbs into her seat and I buckle her seat belt.

Edward is waiting outside the doors when we get there and gives me a questioning look when he sees that Abby and I are late. I just tell him that I had to fight with her to get in and he completely understands.

The doctor checks that everything is ok and says that I'm not dilated yet, so that's good. I have two more weeks left and I really don't want her to come early. Abby was a day early, and that was fine. But I don't want this one to come anytime within the next week. She can stay put until it's time to come.

Friday comes and I am so glad that I'm done for the year. Now I can just stay at home and relax until the baby comes. Now I will a couple of weeks to get some last minute things don't like washing and folding the clothes that have yet to be done. There are some other stuff that I'd like to get done, but I know that Edward would kill me if I did it. I go downstairs to get something and I realize that one of the lights is out. Normally, I would change it, but I know that Edward would be really angry if he knew that I was standing on a chair to fix it.

Edward and I stay up for a little bit after we put Abby in bed just to make sure that she's asleep. She's stayed awake for a few nights now and come downstairs with us. As much as I hate to see her having the nightmares and going through the PTSD, I really am tired earlier than most nights now that my pregnancy is coming to an end and I really would like for her to stay in bed. Edward has been working a lot of early shifts, so he needs to sleep, too. Tonight she doesn't come down after a while, so we head to bed.

Edward lays down next to me in bed. "Are you getting anxious? She's coming in only two weeks." He asks.

"Yeah, a little. Not as much as I was with Abby, though." I answer honestly. I was so nervous in the last few weeks of my first pregnancy.

"Well, now you know what you're doing. So maybe it'll be easier."

I look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Edward, you don't have a seven pound baby being pushed out of you. How can you say this will be easy?"

"I didn't mean easier in that sense. I meant that you know what to expect now. You know how things work and just how much pain you'll be in."

"Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the pain. It's not the most fun thing about childbirth."

"I wish I could sympathize with you, but I don't know that feeling. But I will be there with you every step of the way. Just like I was with Abby."

"Edward," I turn to him and change the subject slightly. "How in the world are we going to deal with a newborn and a child going through PTSD?"

He lets out a heavy breath and runs a hand through his hair. "I honestly don't know, Bella. The baby isn't going to be sleeping through the night. You never know if Abby will wake up or not. We might be losing more sleep than we might normally with a new baby. But my mom will be here to help, and you and I both know that she isn't going to pass down an opportunity to take the baby out of your hands to get some rest. And I'll help whenever I'm home. We'll help you with both kids. That's a promise. You have nothing to worry about." He says reassuringly.

"I know you will, but I don't want to put too much stress on you with this added onto your work load."

"Bella, I'm a dad and husband before a psychologist. Always. Nothing is ever going to change that."

"I don't think I've said this lately, but thank you."

"Thank you for what?" He questions.

"Just for everything. For being the best husband ever and taking care of me when I'm pregnant or sick or whatever. And for being the best daddy to our little girls, even if one isn't here yet. Abby and this one couldn't have a better daddy to take care of them. And you make most of the income to support us, which is good because we all know that teachers don't make that good of an income. You're the best husband and daddy that I could've asked for."

"Bella, I can say the same about you. You put up with me after the accident and took care of me and everything when I couldn't. You're always trying to take care of people, even when you know that there isn't much that you can do. And with being a mother, you're so loving. Abby is going to learn how to be a good wife and mother from you, and she doesn't have anyone better than you to learn that from. There is no way that I can ever thank you enough for that. And I wish that there was some way to get off of work with the baby comes, but I've tried. Believe me, I have tried to get off, but it's just impossible since the accident happened and I missed so much work."

"I know. Don't worry about it. We'll get through it."

"I know we will. We always get through the tough times. Now, let's get some sleep. Abby might wake up in the middle of the night and I have to get up early for work in the morning." He gives me a kiss goodnight and we both fall into a slumber that is actually uninterrupted tonight.


	32. Chapter 32

Two nights later, I feel a slight shift in the bed and open my eyes a little to see Abby climbing in between Edward and I. She turns around and sees that I'm looking at her through squinted eyes. "Can I sleep with you? I had another bad dream."

"Yeah, baby. You can sleep with us." I say. Normally I would say no because Edward and I don't want that to become a habit or something that she thinks she can do whenever she wants. But she hasn't come to bed with us until tonight. Normally she stands at the door with her tear stained face, sniffling until one of us gets up and comforts her back to bed.

I can't deny that Abby has changed since the accident. Other than the fact that we have difficulties getting her in the car most of the time, she's calmed down a lot. Abby never has been shy, but now she's acting like she has been her whole life. I really hope this doesn't last much longer, but who knows how long it could. Where is the child that didn't have a care in the world, here the only thing that she worried about was if she could have ice cream after dinner? And now she's so worried about getting into a car or going to bed because she doesn't want to crash again or have nightmares. I just want my daughter back. My sweet, little bubbly 4-year-old who used to love going on cars rides just because and would fight about bedtime just because she didn't want to sleep.

She's still asleep when Edward and I wake up so we gently get out of bed and let her sleep. Edward gets ready for work and I make him something to eat for breakfast and get his lunch ready for the day.

He smiles and gives me a kiss when I hand him a plate with an omelet on it. "Thanks, babe," he says and sits down at the counter to eat. "When did Abby climb into bed with us?"

I sit down to join him with my breakfast. "Sometime in the middle of the night. I don't know when she came in exactly. She said that she had another bad dream."

"She just came in? That's not like her."

"I know. I don't know why she just got in bed with us, but I wasn't going to protest it this time. As long as it doesn't become a habit, I didn't care for just one night."

"Alright. Hopefully all of this will be over soon and we won't have to worry about it anymore."

"Didn't you say that it can reoccur, though? So it might not be over forever."

"Yeah, but even if it does reoccur, it probably wouldn't be for a few months, at least. So things would be easier for a little why before it starts back up again. And the baby would be older, so that could make things a little easier, too."

"I guess I didn't think about that. I hate seeing her like this. It's not fair to her."

"I know. I hate it, too." He slides his hand up and down my arm in a comforting gesture. "But she'll get through this."

I pause and look at him. "You know, you keep saying that and it doesn't look like she is. If anything, it's getting worse. I know that it's only been two weeks, but if they're getting worse now, then I don't think I want to know how she's going to be in two months. She has bad dreams almost every night. She is afraid of getting into cars. What about flashbacks? Are those a possibility?" I admit that I do start to get a little angry and my voice raises a little.

"Bella, calm down, please."

"Don't tell me to calm down when my child is suffering. Are flashbacks a possibility?" I ask again.

"Yes, they're a possibility. If something reminds her of the accident, then she could have flashbacks."

"What else could she experience?"

"Well, she's already have trouble sleeping because of the dreams. And maintaining close relationships since she's backed away from people a lot. Being easily frightened. Bella, there are a lot of things that she could go through, but I highly doubt she'll go through all of it."

I sigh. I hate this. "Ok. How has she been when you talk to her about it? Did everything go well yesterday?"

"That's another thing. Sometimes, PTSD victims don't want to talk about the event. And she didn't want to talk about it. All she would say was that it was scary and she didn't like the cast that she had to wear on her finger. Other than that, she either kept changing the subject or tried to walk out of the room. And nothing is going to help if she doesn't want to talk about it."

"Will that get better? Will she want to talk eventually?"

"Maybe. Maybe if it does start to get better, then she will. But she won't until she feels comfortable. She might be trying to push everything to the back of her mind. I don't know."

I put of head in my hands. "This is going to be a whole lot harder than it already is when the baby comes. And who knows if she's going to get jealous again."

"I know. I thought about that, too. We just have to love her and when she does want to talk, then we need to give her our full attention. We can do that, Bella."

"Alright. I'm sorry I got angry. I just hate this so much. She did nothing wrong to be going through this. She is only a child."

"I know." He looks at his phone. "I have to go. I'll see you tonight." He kisses me and grabs his lunch. "I love you. See if maybe she'll talk to you."

"I love you, too. And I'll try."

Edward leaves and I clean up the table. Abby wakes up as I finish cleaning up. "Hi, baby."

"Hi, mommy. Can I have a waffle?"

"Of course you can."

As I make her waffle, I think of how I'm supposed to start this conversations with her. I'm not a psychologist, and I have no idea how to start this. That's what Edward is good at. He knows exactly how to do this. I only start conversations about the chapters that my students read the night before.

I set the plate in front of her and sit in the seat next to her at the table. She starts eating and I wait a minute before I start, "Abby, can we talk about something?"

She looks at me and nods. "Abby, you know that you don't need to be afraid of cars." I think she knows where this is going because she looks down at her plate and doesn't make anymore eye contact with me. "Just because daddy's car was hit, that doesn't mean that you have to be afraid."

"But it was scary. I didn't like it."

"I know, honey. I'm sure that it was scary, but it's over now. That was a long time ago. You don't have to be scared anymore."

"And I didn't like that cast that the doctor made me wear."

"I know you didn't, but you had to wear it so that your finger could get better."

"It looked silly."

"I know it did, but your finger feels better, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess." She pushes her plate away from her and asks to be excused. I tell her yes and she goes upstairs to brush her teeth and get dressed. I guess I didn't get a lot out of her and maybe that conversation wasn't any different from what her and Edward had, but at least she opened up a little about the whole thing.


	33. Chapter 33

Before I know it, it's April 15th, my due date. I'm fat and uncomfortable and I just want this baby to come out already. To say that I'm anxious would be an understatement, though I'm not as anxious about this one as I was with Abby. Despite the books I had read and everything else that I had done, I was still freaking out when my due date for her came close. At least with this one, I know exactly what to expect. The pain, though, I'm still not looking forward to. But, it's all worth it in the end.

I think Edward is getting just as anxious about the baby, too. This morning, he set my bag by the door with the car keys on top. And for the rest of the day he's been checking up on me every few minutes. Every time I get up to go to the bathroom, he acts as if my water is about to break at any second. "Edward, calm down. I'll know when she's coming." I tell him.

"I am calm." He looks at me and starts to massage my shoulders from behind.

"No, Edward, you're not. If you were calm, you wouldn't be checking up on me every two minutes. Trust me, I'll let you know when my water breaks."

He places a few small kisses on my neck. "You're a bit feisty today."

"I want this baby out."

"You know what they say can start labor." he kisses my neck again, longer.

"Edward, I'm nine months pregnant. Do you really think I'm up for that?"

He shakes his head. "No, probably not."

Three days pass and still nothing has happened. I want this baby out. I called the doctor earlier today and made an appointment for tomorrow. Hopefully he can tell me something and maybe she'll come soon.

Abby keeps asking about when the baby is going to get here. Edward and I keep telling her almost the same answer every time. We tell her that sometimes babies don't come when we expect them. In fact, she came a couple of days early.

"The bun just has to stay in the oven a little longer." I say this time.

She gives me a confused look. Obviously she doesn't know that phrase. "The buns don't go in the oven. They go on the shelf, mommy. You're silly."

I let out a loud laugh and she gives me an even more confused look. "Honey, it's just a saying. You'll understand what that means when you're older. I'm not talking about the buns, I'm talking about the baby. And I'm not talking about the oven, either. I'm talking about my belly. You'll understand later." I pat her head and walk over to the fridge to start dinner.

Edward comes through the front door as I'm getting Abby's plate ready. He looks exhausted. I know that he has had a long week without the stress of the baby. And this isn't making things better for him.

"What time is your appointment tomorrow?" He asks at the dinner table.

"4 o' clock."

"I get off at 3:30. I'll just meet you there, then."

"Ok. I already called Courtney. She said that she can keep Abby for my appointment, so we don't have to worry about her."

After cleaning up dinner, Edward gives Abby a bath while I pack a bag for her. I don't know what the doctor will say tomorrow. Maybe he'll tell me to wait, or maybe he'll tell me that they can induce. Either way, we need to be ready. I called Alice to make sure that she's still up for having Abby for the night when the baby does come. Of course, she accepts, but her voice drops a little. She is better about the miscarriage. Jasper said that she has talked to him about it, so that's good. Of course, she is still upset, but at least she isn't shutting him out anymore like she was.

They've even started going about finding the best options for her to get pregnant and keep carrying the baby. They've been to so many doctors in the past few weeks and have had a few tests done. Whatever the outcome, I just hope that they are ok with it. I don't have any doubt in my mind that they won't have a child, but sometimes I can't help but feel a little guilty that Edward and I had an easy time conceiving with both kids. Obviously that doesn't happen all the time and things happen, but it was so easy for us. How could it be so difficult for them?

I'm taken out of my thoughts by a shivering Abby, who comes in her bedroom in her towel, looking for something warm to put on. I hand her her clothes and she gets dressed before I ask her to brush her teeth. She asks why I'm putting some of her clothes in a bag and I tell her that she might be going to Alice and Jasper's tomorrow, but I make sure she knows that it isn't a promise.

Trying to get Abby to go to the babysitter's isn't as bad as I thought it would be with her not having gone since I've been off of work. I drop her off and head over to the hospital for my appointment. As much as I want to have this baby, I know that whatever the doctor says, I'm just going to have to live with it, whether he says that we can induce or not.

Edward meets me in the parking lot and we walk in together. He seems to be just as anxious as I am, thought I don't know why. He isn't the one that's carried this baby around for nine months and he isn't the one that has to push it out.

We check in and wait only a few minutes for the doctor to come in. He does an ultrasound and checks a few other things. He leaves the room for a few minutes and just says that he will be right back. Walking in the door, all he says is, "We can induce you tonight."


	34. Chapter 34

Edward and I left the doctor's office shortly after finding out when to be back at the hospital. We didn't have to be back until six, so that gave us time to pick Abby up from Courtney's, tell her what's going on and get her to Alice and Jasper's house for the night. I called Alice on the way to pick Abby up and told her that we would be there soon.

We get Abby and run home. Edward runs inside to get the bags and make sure that they house is locked up before we leave. Carlisle said that he would take care of Lucky while we're gone, so we don't have to worry about him. While Edward is in the house, I turn to Abby. We haven't said anything yet in the short car ride from Courtney's house to here.

"Abby, you're going to have a little sister soon."

"When?" She asks. I know that she has been waiting for this for a long time.

"Tomorrow, maybe. Daddy and I have to go to the hospital tonight."

"Am I going to the hospital, too?"

"No, honey, you're going to go to aunt Ali and uncle Jasper's house. But I think they will bring you to the hospital after your sister is born so that you can meet her before we bring her home."

"How do you get her out of your belly?" She asks.

"I have to push her out." I tell her.

"Does it hurt?"

"No," I lie. "It doesn't hurt at all." Abby always has been one to worry if she knows that someone else is hurting. So I don't want to tell her the reality of what it is actually going to be like. She doesn't need to be worrying about me when I know that things will be just fine other than the pain.

Edward comes out and locks the house up. He puts the bags in the back seat and starts to drive to Alice and Jasper's house. "Did you tell her?" He quietly asks me.

"Yeah. She just asked if it would hurt and I told her no." I reply just as quietly. "Alice and Jasper are going to bring her to the hospital after she's born, right?"

"Yes, I think so. I'm sure they'll be there to visit."

I give Abby a hug and kiss and reassure her that everything is going to be alright with me and her little sister. Abby walks up to Jasper, who is already waiting at the front door. Edward carries Abby's booster seat and hands it to him. He gives her a hug and kiss and I think that I see him whisper something in her ear. She nods and says something back and Edward comes back to the car to start heading back to the hospital.

"What did you say to Abby before you left?"

"I just told her to remember that we love her no matter what. You know that she was so jealous a few months ago. I don't want her to feel that way now after the baby is actually here." He gives my hand a reassuring squeeze and glance in my eyes before turning back to the road. "Nervous?"

"A little. At least I know what I'm doing this time and we can sort of expect it this time."

We pull up to the hospital and get checked in to a room. The room is bare, with boring white walls and an ugly flower border. I get comfortable in the bed while Edward takes a seat in a chair by the window. The doctor comes in to check a few things and says that he'll be back in a few minutes to induce me. Edward and I talk a little before Dr. Andrews comes in to induce me and now we just have to wait for me to actually go into labor. With this being baby number two, I hope that it's quick.

Dr. Andrews doesn't come back in another hour later to break my water. After that he comes in every once in a while to check how far dilated I am for the rest of the night. I think I forgot exactly how painful the contractions are. I know that they're painful, I just forgot how painful. One comes and I squeeze my eyes shut in the pain. I think I leave marks on Edward's hand from my nails digging into his skin. He winces a little but seems to forget about it.

Dr. Andrews comes in a few minutes later to check on me again. "Bella, you're at 7 cm. You're going to be able to start pushing in a few hours probably. I'll be back in a while." He walks out.

Edward turns back to me. "Bella, you're over half way there. The hard part is almost over. Are you still sure you don't want that epidural?"

"Yeah. I went without it with Abby. I think I can do it again." I give a little smile and gives on in return and places a kiss on my cheek.

Another three hours pass before Dr. Andrews comes back in with a few nurses. He checks me again and says the words that we've been waiting hours to hear. "You're ready to push."

He and the nurses get ready while Edward whispers encouraging words in my ear and takes my hand. He places another kiss on my sweaty forehead right before Dr. Andrews tells me they're ready to start. It took an hour of pushing with Abby and I really hope that it doesn't take nearly as long this time. This pregnancy has been so much easier so far other than being overdue and I hope that pushing is no exception.

I get ready to push and Dr. Andrews tells me to start pushing. I push a few times with not much progress. Fantastic. This is going to be just like it was with Abby. I push one more time when the doctor says that he sees the head and I know that it's almost over now. After three more pushes, I hear the precious cries of my little girl.

"It's a girl." I hear Dr. Andrews say through her screams and a tear of happiness slides down my cheek.

Edward leans down to give me a kiss and says, "I love you. So much."

"I love you, too."

The baby is placed on my chest for a second before being taken. Edward cuts the umbilical cord and she's taken to get cleaned up. The nurse wraps her up in a pink blanket and hands her over to me with a smile. "Do you have a name?" She asks.

I take her and look at her beautiful face. "Eliot Carlie Cullen."


	35. Chapter 35

Eliot is taken back by the nurse after a few minutes to have some testing and the other normal things done. She has her first feeding and falls asleep in my arms shortly after she's done. Edward takes her for a little but and she just seems to fit so perfectly in his arms. Of course, so did Abby and even though she is older and getting so big as the days go by, Abby still fits in his arms as perfectly as she did on the day she was born. "You know, you look good with a baby in your arms." I say to him as he sits in the chair next to me with Eliot.

He looks back up at me. "You think so? Because I think you look just as good, if not better with our girls in your arms. After all, you're the one that carried them for nine months and went through hours of labor for them to get here."

"Yeah, but you had just as much contribution to them being here than I did. It takes two to have a baby. I couldn't do it all by myself." I look at his hand and see a few marks from my nails. "Sorry about your hand."

"Don't worry about it." He says with a small smile. "Why don't you get some rest. I'm sure there are going to be a flood of visitors later to see us." He gets up to put Eliot in the portable crib on the other side of my bed and kisses the top of my head. "Go to sleep while you can."

I wake up a few hours later and look at my phone. Ir says that it's almost 8 o' clock in the morning. Edward and the baby are both gone and I can't help but wonder where they are. I sit in the bed for a few minutes and go through my phone. I have a few messages from people asking if she's here yet and when a good time to visit would be. I finish replying to everyone as Edward walks in the door.

"I was hoping you'd be awake. I brought you some breakfast." He sets the take home box and drink on the small table in front of me. "I know hospital food isn't the best, but I didn't want to be gone for too long."

"No, it's ok. Thanks." I open the box and see an omelet made just the way I like it. Edward knows me so well. It doesn't taste the greatest, but it is hospital food, so I guess I will just have to suffer until I go home. "Where's Eliot?"

"They took her back to the nursery when they saw that you were asleep."

"Ok. I told people that they can come this afternoon. Alice said they'll come after Jasper gets home and I think dad is going to come over when we get home. I don't think Emmett and Rose are coming. Emmett said that Rose is probably going to be at the office late and Paige is running a fever."

"Dad is working right now. I think mom is going to come when he's on lunch and they'll come in. You aren't going to tell Renee, right?"

I sigh. I've been debating this for a while. I've gotten over the fact that she was at the house and thankfully I haven't heard much about her since. Dad said that he saw a moving van outside of her's and Phil's house not long after she was at our house, but he couldn't really tell who was moving out, whether it was just one of them moving out or both of them. I honestly don't even care as long as she doesn't come to my house again. "I still don't know. She is her grandchild, technically, but after everything that's happened, I just don't know."

"I'm not going to tell you what to do. I'm just going to tell you that it's completely up to you and I don't want you to do anything because you might feel like you have to."

"I feel like a terrible daughter if I don't tell her because I think she has some right to know because Eliot is her grandchild and we told her about Abby. But I also feel like Renee might try to come to the house to see her and I really don't want that to happen again, especially if you aren't there and if the girls are. So I'm just stuck, either way,"

"Just remember that nothing is your fault. Why don't you just try talking to her. Go out for coffee or something. I can go with you if you want. And after that you can decide where things go from there."

"I don't know. Maybe. Just give me a few days and maybe I'll have an answer."

"Alright. Take your time deciding and don't do anything because you feel like you have to."

An hour passes when there is a knock at the door and a nurse comes in with Eliot, telling me that it's time to feed her again. The nurse leaves and Carlisle and Esme come in not long after I finish feeding Eliot. Esme takes her in her and sits down in the chair that Edward was in for a few minutes before Carlisle takes her. "She looks like you, Bella." Carlisle says.

"Yeah, she does. She definitely has the dark brown hair and brown eyes that I have. I think she might have some curls from my dad like Abby does."

"You know, Emmett used to have really curly hair when he was younger, Bella. It started to straighten out in middle school, though." Esme says.

"He still does have curly hair, though."

"He does, but it used to be really curly. He got that from my mother. Alice's has always been straight. Edward's was and still is just out of control." She smiles at him and he sends back a playful scowl.

"I like my hair." Edward says.

With a light laugh, Carlisle says, "Well, she's beautiful and I wish I could stay longer, but I have to get back to my patients."

"I should probably get back to work, too. We'll see you all later. Is Abby going to come?" Esme asks.

"Alice and Jasper are going to bring her when he gets home from work." I say.

Carlisle and Esme leave and few people that Edward work with come in to see us and Eliot. I haven't seen some of these people in a while, so it's good to be able to see them again and catch up a little. After the last person leaves, I take a little nap before Abby gets here. I know that she's probably going to be bouncing off the walls and I might as well get a little energy before she comes barging through the door to see her sister.

Edward wakes me up and says that Alice and Jasper are on the way. Twenty minutes later, there's a knock on the door and Alice walks in with Abby in front of her and Jasper following them. Just as I thought, Abby comes in the room bouncing with excitement. "Hi, mommy. Where's my baby sister?"

"She's right here." I lower my arms a little so that she can see.

Abby gets on her tip toes and stretches herself to see. Edward picks her up so that it's easier for her. "She's really little, mommy."

"You used to be this little, too, Abby."

Alice takes her and sits in the chair. Edward lets Abby climb on the bed with me, telling her to be careful.

"What's her name, Bell?" Jasper asks as he looks over Alice's shoulder.

"Eliot Carlie. Born April 21 at 2:19 this morning."

"I like that name, Eliot. But where did Carlie come from?" Alice asks.

"It's spelled C-a-r-l-i-e. If you combine Charlie and Carlisle, you get Carlie. Abby is named after her grandma and Eliot's named after her grandpas. Abby's middle name was supposed to be Renesmee, combining Renee and Esme, but that fell through, so we just stuck with Anne for her."

"They're both beautiful names for my beautiful nieces."


End file.
